Tyler Reddick and Chase Briscoe made contact and spun in the final turn while racing for the lead and Kyle Busch capitalized, passing Reddick for the lead right before they took the checkered flag, giving Busch the win in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Busch beat Reddick to the line by .330 seconds.
The few feet or yards Busch led before taking the checkered flag was the only time he led in the 250-lap race.
Busch endured multiple red flags for rain, 17 cautions and confusion over scoring after the second stage to capture his first Cup win of the 2022 season.
“Yeah, we got one. It doesn’t matter how you get them, it’s all about getting them,” Busch told Fox Sports as the remaining crowd rained boos down on him from the stands. “Man, I feel like Dale Earnhardt Sr. right now. This is awesome, I didn’t even do anything. Just a testament to our team. … I can win on any surface at Bristol. Bring it on, baby.”
Busch later detailed how the last half lap played out from his No 18 Toyota.
“I was going into (Turn) 3 as (Briscoe) dove low and was sliding and I saw the right rear of the 14 make contact with the left rear of (Reddick) and then I lost visual … they were into my window net or on my left front A-post so I couldn’t see them at that point,” Busch said. “About the middle of Turn 4, I saw (Reddick) down low at the bottom and I just matted it for everything I had and just drove it off the top and was hoping that I could get there in the nick of time. Wasn’t by much but it was just enough.”
Reddick had led the previous 99 laps upon taking the white flag, which was the most in the race. That included the final 24 laps under green following the last red flag for rain.
Reddick has now led 90 or more laps twice this season without winning.
“I don’t think I did everything right, to be honest with you,” Reddick said. “Briscoe was able to run me back down there. Just looking at it, I should’ve done a little bit better job …. Shouldn’t have let him get that close. You’re racing on dirt, going for the move on the final corner, it’s everything you hope to battle for in his situation.”
Briscoe, who led twice for 59 laps, wound up 22nd after his spin. He came over to Reddick on pit road and apologized.
“I think I was going to spin out either way,” Briscoe told Reddick. “I was trying so hard. I couldn’t run it any harder. I’m sorry, I wish you would have won.”
The top five was completed by defending Bristol dirt winner Joey Logano and Kyle Larson.
Busch is the eighth different winner through nine NASCAR Cup Series races this season. His last win came at Pocono Raceway in June. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has now earned at least one Cup victory in 18-consecutive seasons, tying the mark set by Richard Petty.
“A lot of different people to work with a lot of different cars we’ve gone through, a lot of things that we’ve done and have won races in in those years,” Busch said. “But with how struggle-some I feel like our year has been this year, did we deserve this one? Yeah. I mean, we ran up front all night. We were in contention that was great. So I’ll take that, but we got a lot of work to do to win more races and be in contention each and every week.”
Busch’s win in the second Cup race held on Bristol dirt comes a week after he told reporters that he agreed with Petty that holding a Cup race on dirt sent the sport backward.
The two-time champion detailed his issues with the dirt race while allowing for the fact there “were some bright spots” to Sunday’s event.
“I don’t know if the good outweighed the bad,” Busch said. “A lot of, lot of, lot of different variables here for this answer.
“But the biggest one is they did a better job with the track this year for sure. God helped us out a lot tonight with watering it periodically, so that was really good. We didn’t even have to rely on the water truck driver.
“But the biggest thing that hinders me from enjoying this is just the application. We’re trying to do something that isn’t applicable, in my opinion. I mean, the first 10 laps of the race, everybody is shooting mud off, we’re covering everybody’s grilles. Our windshields are covered with the dirt going off the windshield, stuff like that.
“Those guys talk about the windshields and stuff like that: if we get rid of the windshields, we could have tear-offs and stuff. That’s fine, but the cars are 3500 pounds. You saw what it’s like on the last corner, the last lap, to drive around here every single lap. You are on edge, on your toes, just trying not to crash every single lap.
“When you’re in a dirt car, I’ve now run micros, dirt late models, a few different types of vehicles on dirt. When there’s grip, it’s grip and rip. You are driving the heck out of that thing. Makes you breathe hard. This thing here, you’re just not breathing because you’re so tensed up of not crashing. It’s just the application.
“If it’s a good show, it’s a good show. I think Bristol is fine with or without. I’ve won on them all, so I think I have the best say.”
First Stage
While Cole Custer started from the pole, his teammate Briscoe led from the first lap.
Custer hit pit road on Lap 13 to have mud removed from his grille. Custer’s teammate Aric Almirola pit for similar issues. Within three laps NASCAR threw a caution for teams to clean windshields and grilles.
The race didn’t restart until Lap 26 with Briscoe as the leader over Christopher Bell, Larson, and Reddick.
On Lap 49, Briscoe lost the lead and brought out the caution after he blew a right-rear tire, eventually spinning. That gave the lead to Larson.
The race resumed with 20 laps to go, but with reports of rain in the area. Larson kept the lead over Ty Dillon and Bell while Austin Dillon moved into the top five along with Alex Bowman.
Larson would move out to a two-second lead before winning the second stage. He won over Ty Dillon.
The top 10 after 70 laps: Larson, Ty Dillon, Bell, Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch, Bowman, Logano, Reddick, Blaney and Stenhouse.
After the checkered flag Justin Allgaier, driving the No. 77 for Spire Motorsports, spun into the inside wall. That ended his night.
During the break, the only drivers to stay out were Suarez, Chastain and Briscoe.
Justin Allgaier: "Something in the right front broke there. We were racing for position and trying to get something before the stage break and it just took a right turn into the wall."
— PRN (@PRNlive) April 18, 2022
His night is done early but Justin is OK after a crash in Stage 1. #FoodCityDirtRace
Second Stage
On the restart, Larson quickly moved into second.
The caution came back out on Lap 92 for a solo spin by ABowman. At the time, Suarez led over Larson, Briscoe, Chastain and Bell.
Just before the caution, Denny Hamlin reported engine problems as he slowed on the track and eventually went to the garage. It’s his fourth DNF in nine races.
The green flag waved on Lap 97 as Chastain took second from Larson.
The first multi-car incident occurred two laps into the run for a wreck including Kevin Harvick, Noah Gragson, Bowman and Corey LaJoie. The incident saw the right side of Gragson’s car go on top of Harvick’s car. Harvick had to retire due to problems with his front suspension.
What a wreck!#NASCAR pic.twitter.com/SPEMT5lcmw
— Jaret Lundberg (@IceTitan80) April 18, 2022
The race returned to action on Lap 106.
Chastain began putting up a real challenge for the lead within four laps but couldn’t seal the deal.
The sixth caution was displayed on Lap 113 when Brad Keselowski spun after making contact with Austin Dillon.
When the race resumed, Suarez held the lead as Bell moved to second and Larson took over third. Suarez hung on until a caution with 24 laps left in the stage for debris on the backstretch.
The race resumed with 19 to go in the stage only for the caution to wave within a lap for a LaJoie incident.
The caution was briefly extended due to rain in the area as Suarez led over Briscoe, Elliott and Bell. The green waved with 11 to go in the stage as Briscoe surged to the lead and Bell took second.
Though Bell put up a challenge, Briscoe held on for the stage win.
The top 10 after 150 laps: Briscoe, Bell, Suarez, Elliott, Kyle Busch, Larson, Logano, Michael McDowell, Ryan Blaney and Reddick.
During the break, 17 drivers stayed out, with the first being Kyle Busch. But, given that caution laps during the stage breaks don’t count and the field was frozen, Briscoe would be scored as the leader until the green flag.
Rain picked up during the break and the red flag was displayed after about one lap of pace laps after pit stops.
Confusion reigned among drivers over the scoring rules during the stage break.
“That was a roller coaster of emotions there. I was honestly OK either way, especially on Easter. Life’s a lot more than just a race, right?” Briscoe told Fox Sports. “I knew whatever happened, it was going to be OK. … Hopefully we win. I don’t want to say I don’t want to win. But super cool to go through the adversity we had all day.”
Ben Beshore, crew chief for Kyle Busch, expressed his frustration with the scenario following the race.
“That was disappointing. … I’ve been Cup or Xfinity for 18 years, I’ve never seen … we don’t do the stage racing that often,” Beshore said. “So it’s pretty unique circumstance. That situation happens and they open the pits and we inherit the lead because we had come around, but they’re not counting caution (laps). So that was a little confusing. And I think it just comes with never doing stage racing, except for here where they freeze the field. I guess just a lack of understanding on my part.”
When asked about the rules being stated in the “driver-crew chief meeting” distributed by NASCAR ahead of the race, Beshore said he watched the video every week.
“Now that we don’t have driver meetings, we definitely make sure we watch that video every week,” Beshore said. “I don’t know how to answer that. Yes, I watched the video.”
Second: I just watched the 5 minute and 14 second pre-race video #NASCAR distributes as the "driver/crew chief meeting."
— Daniel McFadin (@danielmcfadin) April 18, 2022
Here's what it says about stage breaks.
The words "red flag" are never mentioned. pic.twitter.com/IUkYdUGdGk
Following a lengthy delay and doubts about if the race would continue, engines were re-fired at 9:45 p.m. ET.
After running up front, Chastain pulled into the garage during pace laps due to an engine failure.
The race officially resumed with 100 laps to go as Reddick shot to the lead after restarting in the second row. Busch got loose shortly after that and fell back to eighth.
The caution came out with 89 laps to go for a spin by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. who has to check up after Cody Ware was turned from contact by Chase Elliott. At the caution, Reddick led over Logano and Blaney. During the caution, Ware drove up to Elliott’s car and got into him in retaliation.
On the restart with 83 to go, Austin Dillon moved into second and Busch into third before an Erik Jones crash brought the caution out again.
Todd Gilliland would bring out another caution for a single-car spin a couple of laps after the next restart.
On the ensuing restart, Busch shot around the outside to second after passing at least three cars.
The race was slowed on Lap 203 for another caution involved Stenhouse. During the break, the pace of the rain picked up as Reddick led over Busch.
The green flag waved with 40 to go. Only two laps into the run, Austin Dillon’s engine expired as he ran near the front of the pack. Most of the field was able to avoid him until Kurt Busch spun after sideswiping Dillon’s car and hit the outside wall.
The race was then red flagged with 28 laps to go due to rain.