Kyle Busch put on a show in southwestern Virginia on Thursday Night. It was entertaining all night, too, from side-by-side battles in both heat races to a strong drive to the front as he put himself in position to drive away in the final restart and score a comfortable win.
Busch won in his SRX debut at the .416-mile track just outside Radford, becoming the fourth driver to do so in series history and the second this season after fellow Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin.
And he certainly enjoyed the win.
“It’s fun, you know,” Busch said after getting out of the car. “It’s just a great atmosphere and environment to be around. Some really cool and really great race car drivers and personalities too, and I love being able to race. I’d race more if I could, but there’s only so much you can get in and only so much you can do.”
Contact that sent contender and then-leader Brad Keselowski spinning, moving Busch into the lead with about forty laps to go, was all that marred his otherwise-clean charge to the lead.
“The Brad deal,” Kyle explained: “I got a good run out of [Turn] 4, got a good run on him, got the launch, and was alongside of him. He arced it out nice and came down and I was there. Part of racing, racing deal.”
“It’s hard in these things because the vision’s not great in the mirrors, but you’ve got to be aggressive and take those spots when you can get them.”
Once he held the lead, Busch never looked back, leaving the field to scramble for remaining positions behind him, even holding on in a late-race caution for a crash that took out multiple drivers.
Clint Bowyer, who’s win in the second heat race was his first time in victory lane in five years for the driver-turned-television analyst, held on to finish second.
Tony Stewart started on pole and led the most laps of the night before Busch climbed through for the win. He ended up finishing third.
There were six cautions at the track. Three were part of the SRX series’ Fun Flag rule, designed to bunch up the field and create tighter racing.
Fun Flags were just one of several rules designed to increase entertainment for fans watching. TV analyst Connor Daly spoke to Clint Bowyer over the radio as he attempted a pass to talk to him on-air, for instance. And series owner Tony Stewart put on the headset and starting interviewing his competitors during the breaks in the action.
Cautions for cause came after Busch spun Keselowski about halfway through the 100-lap race, after Josef Newgarden pushed Helio Castroneves into Bobby Labonte and sent the NASCAR champion spinning, and after a multi-car incident when Paul Tracey turned up in front of Josef Newgarden and wrecked while collecting Marco Andretti, Ken Schrader, and Hailie Deegan.
“I’m not running another race with him. I’m done,” said an unhappy Schrader of Tracey.
For his part, Tracey thought he should have been given the position.
“Well, it’s the end of the race, 10 to go or so, and everybody’s now running hard,” he said. “Newgarden and I, he wasn’t willing to give up the position on the outside and I had half a car length in front of him and we just got hooked up and he hooked me and that was it.”
Schrader was forced out of his car and is credited with a last-place finish.
Marco Andretti, last year’s SRX champion, won the first of the two heat races, but ended up ninth after also being involved in that last accident.
Ryan Newman, who finished fifth, just behind Brad Keselowski, retains the series points lead. Newman won last week in the second round at Stafford. Marco Andretti and Tony Stewart trail by 21 and 24 points respectively. There are eight active drivers competing for points in the series, with each round featuring four guest stars.
The SRX Series returns for another Thursday Night Thunder night race from 9 pm ET to 11 pm ET on ESPN. The race will be at Berlin Raceway in Michigan on August 3rd, the final paved race of the year before the series heads to dirt tracks.
SRX Race 3 Results
1. Kyle Busch
2. Clint Bowyer
3. Tony Stewart
4. Brad Keselowski
5. Ryan Newman
6. Helio Castroneves
7. Bobby Labonte
8. Hailie Deegan
9. Marco Andretti
10. Paul Tracy
11. Josef Newgarden
12. Ken Schrader
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