Busch, in his just second race with his new No. 8 Richard Childress Racing team, came alive in the final stage and held off Chase Elliott and Ross Chastain to win Sunday’s race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif.
The win set a NASCAR record with 19 consecutive seasons with at least one victory and perhaps most important, all-but locked Busch in this season’s 16-driver playoffs.
After moving from his longtime home at Joe Gibbs Racing in the offseason, even Busch thought there may be an adjustment period with his move to RCR, but found himself with a capable car and in position to win in just the second race of the 2023 season.
“I felt like there was going to be a little bit of a learning experience, a little bit of a growth pattern,” Busch explained about his move to RCR. “But also, on the flipside of that, I always just kind of looked back and watched some of their results and success that they had last year with Austin (Dillon). He ran second here last year, and (Tyler) Reddick was super, super fast.
“It’s just been really, really cool, and it’s been a great piece of – we’re making history, right – but a great opportunity to go out there and continue to win races at a new team with RCR.”
Many teams that earn early-season wins since the advent of the playoff system in NASCAR decide to focus on preparing for the playoffs almost immediately or elect to go after stage wins and points to improve their position once the playoffs begin.
Hunting trophies
Busch, however, seems far more interested in charging ahead and challenging for wins any time he feels he has a car capable of doing so.
“I would say that we need to continue on and pour the gas on the fire right now and go out there and continue to get wins and have fast cars and run up front,” Busch said. “We want to get those playoff points.
“Playoff points is a big deal for the end of the year. I’ve won a couple championships having a lot of playoff points, and the couple of years I haven’t had a lot of playoff points, I haven’t made it very far.
“I know what’s important, so hopefully we can get some more of that.”
Busch admitted that having a win in hand may provide himself and crew chief Randall Burnett opportunities to take some chances they might otherwise not have attempted.
“It does open up opportunity for staying out in particular races or maybe pitting and getting tires in particular races because you do have that win so you can take more chances,” Busch said.
“But I don’t know that you’d mess with set-up stuff really much.”
After a tumultuous 2022 season during which Busch found himself in the unusual position of finding a new team in NASCAR, Sunday’s win has the potential to make this season a special one.
“The Cup Series is where our focus is, and we need to be able to go out here and win races,” he said. “If this can be a fantastic year of knocking off five, eight wins, whatever, that would be phenomenal, and all we could really ask for being with a new team and having a new chance.”
