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