Auto Racing Digest

Kyle Busch stuns himself:  “I didn’t even do anything” – and yet he still won!

What a spectacular finish in Sunday night's dirt race at Bristol. Busch went from casual observer and likely third-place finisher, to driving by and right into victory lane.

Jerry Bonkowski

Kyle Busch stuns himself:  “I didn’t even do anything” – and yet he still won!
Kyle Busch stuns himself:  “I didn’t even do anything” – and yet he still won! /

Kyle Busch has won 60 NASCAR Cup races in his career, but none was easier as Sunday night’s Food Lion Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

The younger Busch brother looked like he was headed for a third-place finish, at best. But then Chase Briscoe did a slide job and made contact with race leader Tyler Reddick coming out of Turn 3 and heading into Turn 4 on the final lap.

To his credit, Reddick did a complete 360-degree spin, regained control and composure and headed back toward the finish line.

Except for one thing.

As Reddick collected himself and got back up to speed and going in the right direction, Busch snuck by unscathed on the outside. He didn’t even lead a full last lap, but rather maybe the last 250 feet, if that, to steal away the win, much to his delight and also much to Reddick’s chagrin.

In doing so, Busch was arguably the happiest he’s ever been after a win.

“We got one,” Busch told Fox Sports after snapping what had been a 25-race winless streak, dating back to the middle of last season. “Doesn’t matter how you get ‘em, it’s all about getting ‘em.”

Indeed, Sunday’s win was Busch’s ninth career Cup win at the .533-mile self-proclaimed “World’s Fastest Half-Mile.” It also marked the 18th consecutive Cup season that he has won at least one race, tying him for the all-time lead with NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty. It also locked him into a berth for this season’s Cup playoffs.

“Man, I feel like Dale Earnhardt Sr. right now,” Busch said with a broad smile to Fox Sports. “This is awesome. I didn’t even do anything.

“We were fast enough to stay in contention and still see those guys. … Overall, just real pumped to be back and real pumped to get a win. This one means a lot. I can win on any surface here at Bristol. Bring it on, baby.”

Meanwhile, despite leading the most laps (99 of 250), Reddick once again was deprived of his first Cup win, finishing runner-up for the fourth time in his career.

“I should have done a little better job of not letting him get that close,” Reddick said of Briscoe to Fox Sports. “We’re racing on dirt, going for a move on the final corner. It’s everything that as a driver you hope to battle for in this situation and made it real exciting for the fans.

“It does suck but we were able to finish second still. But being honest, I should have done a better job to pull away so he wasn’t in range to try and make that move. That’s how I look at it.”

But give Reddick – and particularly Briscoe – both a heck of a lot of credit. Unlike the unnecessary and almost embarrassing fisticuffs last week at Martinsville between Ty Gibbs and Sam Mayer in the Xfinity Series, Briscoe came over to Reddick while he was finishing his Fox TV spot and publicly apologized not once, but twice.

That not only made for great and compelling TV, it also showed great sportsmanship on both Briscoe’s and Reddick’s part: Briscoe for apologizing in front of the cameras, but also for Reddick to gracefully accept his rival’s apology and they both walked away shaking hands.

Frankly, I was wondering if they were going to both break into a bro-hug. But I’ll take a good, sincere handshake.

It took a lot for Briscoe to step forward, as he went from a likely second- or third-place finish to arguably the most disappointing finish of his Cup career, ending up 22nd. But at the same time, he was the one who instigated the contact with Reddick, so an apology was most definitely called for.

Even though Dale Earnhardt Jr. thought a bit different of how things played out on pit road between Reddick and Briscoe.

Along the same lines of what Dale Jr. said, there was this photo provided by the good folks at Bristol Motor Speedway that, well, the look on the face of the guy in the middle kind of makes one wonder his thoughts about the post-race Reddick-Briscoe "talk" on pit road.

Tyler Reddick, left, shows what being a good sport and class act is after last-lap incident at Bristol with Chase Briscoe (photo courtesy Bristol Motor Speedway).
Photo courtesy Bristol Motor Speedway / Tyler Reddick, left, shows what being a good sport and class act is after last-lap incident at Bristol with Chase Briscoe (photo courtesy Bristol Motor Speedway)

The race was delayed by a total of one hour, 43 minutes due to two rain interruptions. And while it appeared as if the event would end up short, it went the entire 250-lap distance.

And ended with what was one of the most dramatic finishes in Bristol Motor Speedway history.

Yes, it may have been easy for Busch. And yes, he really didn’t have to do anything other than to just drive by a spinning Reddick, keep his wheels straight, stay on the outside line and cross the finish line. Piece of cake.

Or as Kyle said, “I didn’t even do anything.”

True, so true. If only all other wins were so easy and simple, right?

And with that, we'll leave you with one last thing to mull over:

Follow Jerry Bonkowski on Twitter @JerryBonkowski

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Jerry Bonkowski
JERRY BONKOWSKI

@JerryBonkowski is an award-winning writer/columnist/editor who has specialized primarily in motorsports -- most notably coverage of NASCAR, IndyCar and NHRA -- for much of his 30-plus-year career. He has worked full-time for many of the largest media brands including USA Today, ESPN, Yahoo and NBC. He started AutoRacingDigest.com in partnership with Sports Illustrated in 2022 and serves as the site's editor and publisher. He also is a regular contributor to Autoweek.com and NASCAR.com. Follow Jerry on Twitter @JerryBonkowski

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