Kurt Busch earns top 10 finish after lap 1 penalty at Atlanta
Kurt Busch’s sixth-place finish in Sunday’s Folds of Honor Quik Trip 500 was a hard-fought effort from the very start for the 2004 Cup champion.
Busch was set to start Sunday’s race in 12th but failed pre-race tech inspection three times. Busch dropped to the rear and then was forced to serve a drive-through penalty at the beginning of the race.
After taking the drive-through penalty, Busch was one lap down but worked his way up to 32nd, the lucky dog spot when the lap 25 competition caution fell which put him back on the lead lap.
As stage 1 progressed, Busch worked his way up to 12th and even led on lap 69 during a green-flag pit stop cycle. Busch battled with tight handling which was magnified by a seven-lap green-flag run to end stage 1 that relegated Busch back to 17th at the end of the stage.
Busch again battled a tight-handling car throughout stage 2 but stayed in the top 15, finishing 15th in stage 2.
In the final stage, Busch worked back into the top 10 on lap 247, 19 laps before his final stop. Following his stop, Busch ran 10th and moved up to sixth in the final running order.
Busch’s sixth-place finish was his seventh top 10 in the last eight Cup races and fourth consecutive top 10.
Busch shared this video on Twitter following Sunday’s race at Atlanta:
P6 at @amsupdates… pic.twitter.com/XF2Atl0QqC
— Kurt Busch (@KurtBusch) June 8, 2020
Busch sits tenth in Cup points, 137 points behind points leader Kevin Harvick, heading into Wednesday’s Blue Emu 500 at Martinsville (TV: FS1; 7pm EST)
SOURCES:
Chip Ganassi Racing
NASCAR
Racing-Reference.Info
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com