All of the bad vibes changed to the good in one fortunate swoop as Busch crossed the finish line first Saturday night at the GoBowling.com 400. Not only did Kyle cross Kansas off his winless list – leaving only Pocono and Charlotte yet to conquer – he did the bulk of his work late in the race. Of the 69 laps he led, 37 came during the final stages.
Busch was able to seize the opportunity when Martin Truex Jr., who led a race-high 172 laps but finished 14th, was forced to return to pit road at lap 215 due to a loose wheel. The bad break was the result of a bolt that broke and didn’t allow the tire to mount on a prior green-flag stop that happened three laps earlier.
From there, Busch only had to get by two more restarts. The second one came with 19 laps to go after teammate Denny Hamlin tried a risky three-wide move that took out Kyle Larson, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano along with him.
Busch, who led from lap 231 to the finish, held off Kevin Harvick and earned his third win of 2016. It was Busch’s 37th career Cup win and came five days after he celebrated his 31st birthday.
When you’re going well, all can seem awesome with the world. In direct contrast, everything probably felt like a bad trip through a Walking Dead episode to Martin Truex Jr.
For the eighth time in his Sprint Cup career, Truex led more than 100 laps. For the seventh time, he didn’t win the race. The only time Truex pulled off the feat was his first career Sprint Cup win at his “home” track, Dover International Speedway, in 2007.
Among the seven times of plus-100 in the laps led without winning, it’s happened to Truex at Kansas twice. In the eeriest of coincidence, Truex led 173 laps in the spring race in 2012 and finished second.
Texas Motor Speedway is also on the twice-bitten track list for Truex. In this year’s spring race, he led 141 laps and finished sixth. In the 2013 spring race, he led 142 laps and finished second.
If that’s not bad luck, Truex wouldn’t have any luck at all.
But the native of Mayetta, New Jersey does have three career wins. I had the privilege of witnessing his triumph in the 2013 Toyota/SaveMart 350 at Sonoma Raceway. As the laps were winding down, I was flashing back to places like Kansas and Texas, where something bad seemed to always come into play.
Yes, I doubted Truex would hang on.
On that June day three years ago, the bad breaks stayed away. When the checkered flag came out for Truex, it ended a wait of nearly six years between victories.
And one thing I’ll never forget from that weekend was how his car owner, Michael Waltrip, said directly to my face without cockiness or pretense at a press preview luncheon in San Francisco that his guy, Martin Truex Jr., would win on Sunday.
He’s got Toyota equipment to drive again after a two-year absence, so the potential for another victory is there. As long as the gremlins stay away, anything is possible at any given moment.
Follow Tom Zulewski on Twitter @Tomzsports and email at tominator19@yahoo.com.
NEXT WEEK'S RACES
Dover International Speedway (1-mile oval), Dover, Delaware.
-SPRINT CUP: AAA 400 Drive for Autism, Sunday, 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT, Fox Sports 1. Radio: SiriusXM Channel 90 or your local MRN Radio affiliate.
Race distance: 400 miles, 400 laps.
2015 champion: Jimmie Johnson
-XFINITY SERIES: Ollie's Bargain Outlet 200, Saturday, 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT, Fox. Radio: SiriusXM Channel 90 or your local MRN Radio affliate.
Race distance: 200 miles, 200 laps.
2015 champion: Chris Buescher
-CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES: Dover 200, Friday, 5:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. PT, Fox Sports 1. Radio: SiriusXM Channel 90 or your local MRN Radio affiliate.
Race distance: 200 miles, 200 laps.
2015 champion: Tyler Reddick
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