Kyle Busch Looking To Turn Season Around At COTA

Kyle Busch walks the grid during practice for NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 5, 2022. Photo: Meg Oliphant/Getty Images

Kyle Busch has four NASCAR Cup Series victories on road courses – two each at Watkins Glen and Sonoma.

So Sunday’s race at the Circuit of the Americas could be a turning point in his up-and-down season.

The two-time series champion – who also boasts four road course wins in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, including last year at the Austin, Texas track – is ranked 11th in the Cup Series point standings coming into the weekend with three top 10 and a single top five in the opening five races of 2022. He will start 15th on Sunday.

“I think the car is fine,” Busch said of his season while meeting with the media on Friday. “We are all trying to figure it out and learn what it potentially is and what it is that makes it go fast, what the knobs are that you need to turn at particular places. I feel like we’ve had decent speed everywhere we’ve been except Phoenix. Phoenix was really bad.

“Vegas, we were fast – coulda, shoulda, woulda – California, we were okay, worked on it and came back from five laps down. … Last week was fast, probably one of the fastest cars in the field and just got caught up in a wreck.

“We don’t have anything to show of this year, which is disappointing. No stage points. That’s about it.”

Road Course Ringers At COTA

Practice and qualifying proved to be a bit of trouble for some in the road course “ringers” group at COTA this week.

Former NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year, sports car ace Andy Lally did not get to make a qualifying lap and will have to serve a penalty at the beginning of Sunday’s race because of an inspection violation for his No. 78 Ford. He will start last in the 39-car field

Joey Hand, another IMSA standout road course racer, had a tire problem in practice and the crew was unable to repair the No. 15 Rick Ford in time for him to make a qualifying lap, so he will also start from the rear of the field in 28th place.

One of the sport’s most popular drivers, Boris Said, is returning to competition – making his first NASCAR Cup Series start since 2017 at his hometown track, Watkins Glen International. Said’s best showing was third at Watkins Glen in 2005. He won a NASCAR Xfinity race in Montreal in 2010.

Said, who has now been racing for four decades, He will start 37th of the 39 cars.

Catching Up With Bubba

Bubba Wallace got a huge test of the new Next Gen car last week in an accident at Atlanta Motor Speedway – and the driver of the No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota is giving a big thumbs-up to the durability and safety. It’s been quite a week for the star driver, who covered several topics Saturday with reporters.

“P1, new track record, hard as hell,” Wallace said of this accident at Atlanta. “It was a hard hit. Wednesday I was finally good. Main thing I was worried about was my shoulder because I had surgery on it in the offseason, but Wednesday I was feeling good and able to move it easily.

“Atlanta happened and I’ve got a job to come out here and continue to race. You put that behind you and race.”

Wallace said he spent some time during the week with former University of North Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams and said he received some encouraging and useful tips on dealing with his distractors in NASCAR.

“I had never met him, I’m not a UNC fan, I’m a Tennessee fan obviously, but I became a fan of him and UNC after that night,” Wallace said.

“He said, ‘Hey man, heard a lot about you and one thing I want to leave you with before I go, the dogs are always going to be barking and the caravan is going to continue rolling.

“You just kind of roll on with it,” Wallace recalled with a smile. “Super cool. I’d never ever had a conversation with him or even been around him and in that moment, he took the time that night to tell me that.’’

NASCAR Cup Series
Circuit Of The Americas – Austin, TX
EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix – March 27, 2022

Sunday’s Starting Line Up

Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
1. 12 Ryan Blaney Menards/Richmond Water Heaters Ford 132.343 92.759
2. 99 Daniel Suarez CommScope Chevrolet 132.369 92.741
3. 41 Cole Custer One Cure Ford 132.471 92.669
4. 8 Tyler Reddick 3CHI Chevrolet 132.552 92.613
5. 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 132.656 92.540
6. 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 132.892 92.376
7. 20 Christopher Bell DeWalt Toyota 132.912 92.362
8. 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Ground Toyota 133.051 92.265
9. 31 Justin Haley LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet 133.566 91.910
10. 2 Austin Cindric # Discount Tire Ford 133.940 91.653
11. 45 Kurt Busch Monster Energy Toyota 132.669 92.531
12. 9 Chase Elliott Llumar Chevrolet 132.698 92.511
13. 5 Kyle Larson HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 132.698 92.511
14. 14 Chase Briscoe Mahindra Tractors Ford 132.782 92.452
15. 18 Kyle Busch Skittles Lime is Back Toyota 132.790 92.447
16. 1 Ross Chastain ONX Homes/iFly Chevrolet 132.801 92.439
17. 19 Martin Truex, Jr. Bass Pro Shops Toyota 132.994 92.305
18. 4 Kevin Harvick GEARWRENCH Ford 133.164 92.187
19. 21 Harrison Burton # Freightliner Ford 133.263 92.119
20. 16 A.J. Allmendinger(i) Action Industries Chevrolet 133.297 92.095
21. 3 Austin Dillon Bennett Chevrolet 133.352 92.057
22. 17 Chris Buescher Fifth Third Bank Ford 133.356 92.054
23. 23 Bubba Wallace leidos Toyota 133.682 91.830
24. 24 William Byron RaptorTough.com Chevrolet 133.922 91.665
25. 10 Aric Almirola Rush/Mobil Delvac 1 Ford 134.137 91.518
26. 6 Brad Keselowski Wyndham Rewards Ford 134.149 91.510
27. 34 Michael McDowell Love’s Travel Stops Ford 134.164 91.500
28. 47 Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. SunnyD Chevrolet 134.255 91.438
29. 38 Todd Gilliland # Boot Barn Ford 134.324 91.391
30. 43 Erik Jones FOCUSfactor Chevrolet 134.411 91.332
31. 50 Kaz Grala(i) Pit Viper Sunglasses Chevrolet 134.476 91.288
32. 7 Corey LaJoie Schluter Systems Chevrolet 134.492 91.277
33. 42 Ty Dillon chevyliners.com Chevrolet 134.531 91.250
34. 77 Josh Bilicki(i) Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet 135.307 90.727
35. 51 Cody Ware Nurtec ODT Ford 135.584 90.542
36. 27 Loris Hezemans(i) Hezeberg Systems Ford 135.660 90.491
37. 66 Boris Said Bumper.com Ford 138.038 88.932
38. 15 Joey Hand Ford Pass Rewards Visa Ford 0.000 0.000
39. 78 Andy Lally(i) MaintenanceSupplies.com Ford 0.000 0.000