Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), appeared to have a car capable of winning Sunday at Dover (Del.) International Speedway, but an issue with the left-front suspension in the latter stages of the race thwarted any chance he had to score his third NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory of the season. Nonetheless, Busch’s 17th-place finish was good enough to put him among the 12 drivers that advance from the Challenger Round to the Contender Round of the 2015 Chase for the Sprint Cup.
Photo Credit: stewarthaasracing.com
“We had a strong Haas Automation Chevrolet today, a top-three car for sure,” Busch said. “We didn’t get the finish we feel like we deserved, but we’re moving on to the Contender Round of the Chase. The points are reset now, we all go to Charlotte next week with even points. We’ll go there and aim to win the race and lock ourselves into the Eliminator Round.”
Busch started seventh in the 43-car field and struggled with a loose-handling condition on corner exit early in the going, but he was able to maintain a presence inside the top-10. Crew chief Tony Gibson called for minor adjustments on each pit stop to correct the handling of the Haas Automation Chevrolet. At the midpoint of the event, Busch was scored fourth and reported that he was overall happy with the handling of his red-and-black racecar.
With less than 100 laps to go, Busch reported that the left-front tire felt “weird” and that there was a problem with his racecar, but he wasn’t able to diagnose just what had gone wrong. Just a few laps later, the caution flag waved, giving the No. 41 team the opportunity to work on their racecar. Car chief Kevin Pennell diagnosed that the left-front jack bolt backed out, causing the car to lose ride height. The team was able to fix the problem but did not get enough rounds into the bolt to lift the car to optimum height. They would get one last opportunity to make adjustments during the final caution of the race, and Busch made the most of the day by salvaging a 17th-place finish.
Busch’s teammate Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Budweiser/Jimmy John’s Chevrolet SS, led the four-car SHR contingent Sunday by winning the AAA 400. The victory punched Harvick’s ticket to the Contender Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Harvick came into Dover needing to win to advance from the Challenger Round.
This was the 30th points-paying Sprint Cup win for SHR since its inception in 2009 and the organization’s fifth this season. Harvick won earlier this year at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Phoenix International Raceway, and Busch won at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway and Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn. It was also the 750th Sprint Cup win for Chevrolet.
There were eight caution periods for 43 laps, with three drivers failing to finish.
As the third race in the 10-race Chase, Dover served as the first elimination race. The original, 16-driver Chase field was whittled down to 12 following the AAA 400, with McMurray, Jimmie Johnson, Paul Menard and Clint Bowyer failing to make the cut.
Joining Harvick and Kurt Busch in advancing from the Challenger Round to the Contender Round were Kenseth, Denny Hamlin, Logano, Carl Edwards, Martin Truex Jr., Jeff Gordon, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Ryan Newman and Earnhardt. All had their respective point tallies reset to 3,000.
Three more races will be run, with the next cutoff coming after the Oct. 25 race at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, whereupon the Chase field shrinks to eight for the Eliminator Round. Another three races will be run after that, and after the Nov. 15 race at Phoenix, only four drivers will advance to the final, winner-take-all Championship Round Nov. 22 in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the Bank of America 500 on Oct. 10 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway. The race begins at 7 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBC.
