Photo: Stewart-Haas Racing
Date: May 28, 2017
Event: Coca-Cola 600 (Round 12 of 36)
Series: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
Format: 400 laps, broken into four stages (100 laps/100 laps/100 laps/100 laps)
Start/Finish: 12th/6th (Running, completed 400 of 400 laps)
Point Standing: 14th (290 points, 201 out of first)
Race Winner: Austin Dillon of Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-100):
● Kurt Busch started 12th, finished ninth.
● Battled a tight-handling condition on corner exit.
● With his ninth-place finish in Stage 1, Busch earned two bonus points.
● Visited pit road at the end of Stage 1 to take four tires, fuel and air pressure and wedge adjustments.
Stage 2 Recap (Laps 101-200):
● Started 10th, finished fifth.
● As the sun began to set, Busch struggled with a loose-handling condition.
● Was running seventh when inclement weather forced NASCAR to red flag the race.
● Pitted when the race restarted for four tires, fuel and air pressure and wedge adjustments.
● With his fifth-place finish in Stage 2, Busch earned five bonus points.
● Visited pit road at the end of Stage 2 to take four tires, fuel and air pressure adjustments.
Stage 3 Recap (Laps 201-300):
● Started seventh, finished sixth.
● Battled a loose-handling condition on entry and was tight off the corners for much of the stage.
● Visited pit road on lap 294 to take four tires, fuel and air pressure adjustments.
● With his sixth-place finish in Stage 3, Busch earned four bonus points.
Final Stage Recap (Laps 301-400):
● Started sixth, finished sixth.
● Struggled with a tight-handling condition on the short run and a loose-handling condition on the long run.
● Was credited with leading a lap during a cycle of green-flag pit stops on lap 368.
● Finished sixth to earn his sixth top-10 finish of the 2017 season.
Notes:
● Busch’s sixth-place finish was his fourth top-10 in his last six races and his 12th top-10 in 34 career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series starts at Charlotte.
● Busch led once for one lap.
● Busch earned points in each stage of the race, marking the first time this season he has done so.
Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation/Monster Energy Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“We did well. We battled and battled and had fun throughout. The balance of our car was too tight to start and too loose on the long run. We saw a little bit of that in the All-Star Race, so we tried to compensate. The track came to us with the rain delay. I thought we were a stronger car in the later half of the race. The short-run speed we were tight, the long-run speed we were loose, but we tried and tried and tried. Thanks to Haas Automation, Monster Energy and Ford. I’ve got a great group of guys. Tonight was a good run. We finished sixth, but some guys stayed out on fuel, and we really gave it our heart tonight.”
Next Up:
The next event on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the AAA 400 Drive for Autism on Sunday, June 4 at Dover (Del.) International Speedway. The race starts at 1 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FS1.
