In a captivating battle for the victory in Sunday’s Quaker State 400, whcih mimiced some of the most classic races and finishes that Atlanta Motor Speedway has ever seen, Kyle Busch came up just short of his older brother, Kurt Busch, after jumping him on the final pit stop of race and battling throughout the entire run.
When attempting to work around Ross Chastain, Kurt Busch’s teammate, the driver of the No. 42 chose to emulate the line of race leader, Kyle Busch, destroying all of the progress that the Joe Gibbs Racing driver had made over the course of the run. In turn, the No. 1 GEARWRENCH Chevrolet Camaro was able to scurry past the No. 18, securing his first victory of the year and the final win on the current layout of the 1.54-mile facility.
Kyle Busch was… perturbed to say the least, a feeling made clear in his post-race interview with NBC Sports: “Same as always. We just don’t have enough front end with laps on tires,” said Busch. “I had everything I had there early and then just smoked it behind the 42, obviously. Shows you what kind of driver he is.”
"Smoked it behind the 42. Shows you what kind of driver he is." — @KyleBusch after finishing second at @amsupdates. pic.twitter.com/S182rgNDET
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 11, 2021
On the other hand, Chastain’s teammate was happy about the moves made in the closing laps, thanking him on the radio, as well as his post-race interview at the start-finish line: “Shake and bake! Shake and bake! Yeah, and the 42, he did his job as a teammate,” said the Chip Ganassi Racing driver. “Ross is going to get a little flak for it, but that’s what it takes to be a good teammate at the right moment, so I couldn’t be more proud of Ross Chastain.”
