NASCAR Daytona 2013: Kurt Busch finishes sixth, moves into top 10 in points

Kurt Busch escaped the numerous wrecks that collected so many others and was rewarded with a sixth-place finish in the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

More importantly, the finish moved him up five spots in the standings to ninth overall and put him in position to claim a spot in NASCAR’s Chase for the Championship.

“That’s awesome to have a good run like that and stay out of trouble and post a nice top 10,” Busch said. “We’ve made little mistakes here, there, and everywhere. When we start putting it together, it’s now starting to bear the fruit and we’ve moved our way into the top 10 in points. So that’s pretty cool.”

In his first season with Furniture Row Racing, Busch started the year slowly and at one point was ranked as low as 29th. But beginning with a third at Charlotte there has been a dramatic uptick in performance for the single-car No. 78 team.

Including his sixth Saturday night at Daytona, Busch has amassed five finishes of sixth or better in his previous seven starts. He is also now the highest in points he has been since the penultimate race of the 2011 season and this is the highest Furniture Row has ever been this late in the year.

What Busch has yet to do, however, with Furniture Row is win. Although he has come close several times this season, his winless streak sits at 60 races heading into next week’s event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

“We have a long way to go, and yet we still are getting better,” Busch said. “I’m just real proud of these guys and the effort that we’ve put forth and just a big thanks to Barney Visser (team owner) and Furniture Row and Chevy and everybody that’s on board.

“It’s great. We’re there, but we’ve still got a bit of work to do.”