Busch Finally Wins During Wet Texas Weekend

Kyle Busch won the Autotrader EchoPark 500 from Texas Motor Speedway on Wednesday afternoon to pick up his first win of 2020.

Busch had to wait a few days to pick up his first victory of the year, as a consistent mist stayed in the Fort Worth area for three days.  The race began on Sunday afternoon, but was red-flagged after just 51 laps, and did not resume until Wednesday afternoon.

Busch used pit strategy to get to the front, and he was able to use fuel mileage to get the victory.  After pitting before the rest of the field, Busch had to save fuel over the final 60-lap run.  He was able to save enough to hold off his teammate Martin Truex Jr. in the closing laps.

Busch said he had to work hard over the final run to keep his fuel mileage right on the numbers.

“Kept getting great leadership and mentoring from [Crew Chief Adam Stevens],” Busch said.  “Just kept talking to me, reminding me about saving and being able to do what I could.  Trying to stay in the draft as much as I could on the straightaways.”

Busch, who was eliminated from the Playoffs at the end of the last round, extended his streak of consecutive years with a victory to 16 with his win on Wednesday.

Busch said he believes his team is set up to contend again next year.

“This one means a lot just to keep the 16 going,” Busch said.  “Everyone thought we were duds, but we don’t give up.  We’re ready to fight next year; we’ll be back.”

Truex came into Texas needing a win to advance to the final round of the Playoffs, but came up one spot short.

Now Truex has one more chance to race for a championship at Phoenix, and he said he believes he can contend at Martinsville to lock himself in.

“Excited about Martinsville; I know we can win there,” Truex said.  “Seems like one of those years where we’re just second, third, fourth…we’re right there a lot, but we just needed a little bit more to be better.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kyle Busch
2. Martin Truex Jr.
3. Christopher Bell
4. Ryan Blaney
5. Alex Bowman
6. Brad Keselowski
7. Kurt Busch
8. Matt DiBenedetto
9. Denny Hamlin
10. Joey Logano
11. Austin Dillon
12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
13. William Byron
14. Cole Custer
15. Tyler Reddick
16. Kevin Harvick
17. Clint Bowyer
18. Ryan Preece
19. Ryan Newman
20. Chase Elliott
21. Erik Jones
22. John Hunter Nemechek
23. Aric Almirola
24. Ty Dillon
25. Corey LaJoie
26. Michael McDowell
27. Daniel Suarez
28. Brennan Poole
29. Josh Bilicki
30. Timmy Hill
31. Garrett Smithley
32. Reed Sorenson
33. Quin Houff
34. Chris Buescher
35. Chad Finchum
36. Jimmie Johnson
37. Joey Gase
38. Bubba Wallace
39. Matt Kenseth
40. JJ Yeley