Breaking news

NASCAR Cup Talladega

Kyle Busch's quest for fourth straight win ends at Talladega

As expected, Kyle Busch’s quest for a career-best fourth consecutive Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory faced several obstacles at Talladega.

Jim Utter

Jim Utter

Edited: May 1, 2018, 12:27 AM

Copy link

Share on Facebook

Share on Twitter

Share on WhatsApp

Share on Linkedin

Share on Pinterest

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry M&M's Flavor Vote

Clint Bowyer, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford Haas Automation Demo Day, William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet Camaro Liberty University, Paul Menard, Wood Brothers Racing, Ford Fusion Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center, crash

Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry M&M's Flavor Vote

Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry M&M's Flavor Vote, Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford Fusion Busch Beer Flannel

Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry M&M's Flavor Vote

Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry M&M's Flavor Vote Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry FedEx Express

Monster Cup officials

Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry M&M's Flavor Vote Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry FedEx Express Kasey Kahne, Leavine Family Racing, Chevrolet Camaro Procore Safety Certified Paul Menard, Wood Brothers Racing, Ford Fusion Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center

Busch had been weary to predict a fourth-straight win at a superspeedway race, although his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was certainly capable to find Victory Lane.

“It makes for a more challenging time to be able to get that fourth in a row, but also we’ll know how much more rewarding it is when we do get it,” Busch said before the weekend began.

But as is common in these races, there are circumstances not in a driver’s control and Busch found that and more in Sunday’s GEICO 500.

Busch started 19th and finished fourth in Stage 1 of the race to get off to a strong start and managed a 10th place finish in Stage 2. But during the stage break caution, his first problem arose and this one was self-inflicted – he was penalized for speeding on pit road.

Busch was in 12th place on Lap 128 when he reported a vibration. A fortuitous caution waved during the same lap, allowing him to bring his car in for new tires. He fought his way back into the top-five by Lap 159.

However, Busch got caught up in the 14-car incident on Lap 165, started when Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson and William Byron got together.

The team had to make sheet-metal repairs and replace one of the hood panels but was able to keep the No. 18 Toyota on the lead lap. He managed to reach the Top-10 gain before fading to 13th at the finish.

“It’s hard to say what would have happened if we hadn’t been caught up in that accident. Once we got in that wreck, it was over, but we had a decent car up until then,” Busch said. “We got our car handling better all day long and every adjustment we made to it was an improvement and gave us more on the race track, but we just lack speedway speed we are looking for.

“It would have been nice to get that fourth win, but we will go to Dover and try to start a new streak.”

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Read also :

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Facebook

Share on Twitter

Share on WhatsApp

Share on Linkedin

Share on Pinterest

Share on Viber

Previous article Joey Logano's Talladega win was another victory for 'One Ford'

Next article RPM adds new six-race sponsor for Darrell Wallace Jr.

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

More from

Jim Utter



Erik Jones agrees to multi-year contract extension with Legacy Motor Club

NASCAR Cup

NASCAR Cup Aug 13, 2024

Erik Jones agrees to multi-year contract extension with Legacy Motor Club



Goodyear's option tires at Richmond "were like Mario Kart with a star"

NASCAR Cup

NASCAR Cup

Richmond II

Aug 12, 2024

Goodyear's option tires at Richmond "were like Mario Kart with a star"



NASCAR: Austin Dillon move was "really close to crossing the line"

NASCAR Cup

NASCAR Cup

Richmond II

Aug 12, 2024

NASCAR: Austin Dillon move was "really close to crossing the line"

More from

Kyle Busch



Samantha Busch full speech as she accepts Kyle Busch's Most Popular Driver award

NASCAR Cup

NASCAR Cup 3 d

Samantha Busch full speech as she accepts Kyle Busch's Most Popular Driver award



Kyle Busch posthumously wins NASCAR Cup Most Popular Driver Award 

NASCAR Cup

NASCAR Cup

Homestead-Miami

3 d

Kyle Busch posthumously wins NASCAR Cup Most Popular Driver Award 



Remembering Kyle Busch through the NASCAR Cup wins that made his legend

Feature

NASCAR Cup

Feature

NASCAR Cup

Charlotte

5 mo

Remembering Kyle Busch through the NASCAR Cup wins that made his legend

More from

Joe Gibbs Racing



Who won the teammate battles of NASCAR Cup 2026?

NASCAR Cup

NASCAR Cup

Homestead-Miami

3 d

Who won the teammate battles of NASCAR Cup 2026?



Winners and losers from a different NASCAR Cup finale at Homestead

NASCAR Cup

NASCAR Cup

Homestead-Miami

4 d

Winners and losers from a different NASCAR Cup finale at Homestead



NASCAR Cup Homestead starting lineup: Chase Briscoe snags pole over Hamlin

NASCAR Cup

NASCAR Cup

Homestead-Miami

6 d

NASCAR Cup Homestead starting lineup: Chase Briscoe snags pole over Hamlin

Latest news



BMW "proud of what we achieved" after securing runner-up in 2026 WEC

WEC

WEC WEC

Monza

45 min

BMW "proud of what we achieved" after securing runner-up in 2026 WEC



The numbers that reveal how sprint races have turned the MotoGP title fight upside down

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Qatar GP

2 h

The numbers that reveal how sprint races have turned the MotoGP title fight upside down



2027 Formula E drivers and teams: The line-up so far

Formula E

FE Formula E 4 h

2027 Formula E drivers and teams: The line-up so far



Kimi Antonelli meets Italian president Sergio Mattarella

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1 5 h

Kimi Antonelli meets Italian president Sergio Mattarella

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts

Subscribe