All the celebrities within the huge and brilliant Texas sky had been aligning for Kyle Busch in Sunday’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas.
The 2-time Cup Collection champion entered Sunday’s race at COTA on a 59-race winless streak, however for some time, it appeared just like the worst drought of his profession could be quenched in Austin, Texas.
Busch led a race-high 42 laps, and in Stage 1, was the one driver who was capable of deal with Shane van Gisbergen for the lead.
By flipping the levels in each Stage 1 and Stage 2, Busch was on the entrance of the sector firstly of Stage 3, and on Lap 70, he made his last pit cease from the lead.
Christopher Bell opted to run two laps longer than Busch, pitting on lap 72. After Bell exited the pits, the race grew to become considered one of tire put on — was Bell’s two laps benefit sufficient to reel in Busch?
That query will stay endlessly unanswered. A Lap 78 warning for Denny Hamlin and Austin Dillon introduced out the ultimate yellow flag of the afternoon and arrange a pivotal restart.
Busch got here out of the Lap 83 restart unscathed and with the lead, however Bell’s Toyota appeared to be a tick quicker. With each passing lap, Bell was capable of get proper as much as the again of Busch, and it appeared to be a matter of time earlier than the Atlanta winner made the successful go.
Busch held serve within the high spot, nevertheless. On Lap 87, Bell overshot Flip 1 in an try to go Busch. Regardless of the obvious mistake, Bell was proper again on Busch’s bumper later within the lap.
Each Busch and Bell’s day almost led to crumpled sheet steel on Lap 90 when the 2 made contact within the esses, however Busch was staunch and unmoving.
The veteran of 20 Cup Collection seasons refused to surrender the lead — till he did.
Regardless of Busch’s finest efforts, his barely older tires had been no match for Bell’s two-lap more energizing tires. With 5 laps to go, Bell handed Busch for the lead in Flip 1.
Bell’s go for the lead began a mini-freefall for Busch, who went from first to fourth within the span of 1 lap. By the point the leaders crossed the stripe with three laps to go, Busch was a distant fourth and now not in competition.
It was a heartbreaking ending to a day that had a lot promise.
A fifth-place end is nothing to scoff at for Busch, who solely collected 5 top-five ends in 2024. Finishes of seventh at Atlanta and fifth at COTA have Busch sitting ninth within the Cup Collection standings, 14 factors above the playoff reduce line.
However on the finish of the day, fifth does not break a 59-race winless streak. It does not quench a career-worst drought. It does not safe a berth within the NASCAR playoffs.
For Busch, a fifth-place effort at COTA represents each how shut he got here to proving he is nonetheless the identical driver he was once, and the way far eliminated he’s from being the venerable champion the sector used to concern.
It seems every part is certainly greater in Texas, together with the heartbreak.
