When the green flag waved to start the penultimate race of the season -- and the event that would set the field for NASCAR’s championship finale -- Kurt Busch did what most any driver would do in a similar situation: he floored the gas and took off Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway.
Kurt Busch cannot overcome controversial penalty, misses Chase championship round
A penalty Kurt Busch incurred for jumping the start of the race proved costly, as he failed to advance to the championship round of NASCAR’s playoffs.
Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
Except Busch stepped on the accelerator just a smidge too soon and narrowly beat pole-sitter Jimmie Johnson across the start/finish. That subsequently incurred Busch a pass-through penalty, which dropped him out of the lead in a race he absolutely needed to win.
And when rain halted the Quicken Loans 500 prematurely, Busch stood in the downpour having finished seventh, lamenting a penalty he felt wasn’t deserved.
“That wasn’t a penalty,” Busch said. That’s a reason to start a survey and right now, I encourage everyone to go on to Twitter, my Facebook, my Instagram and follow it and we’re all going to have a survey.
“I don’t think it was a penalty.”
Busch’s No. 41 car showed speed all weekend, qualifying second and posting the fastest times in both practice sessions Saturday. And when he moved ahead of Johnson at the onset Sunday, a victory that would advance him to the championship bracket of the Chase for the Sprint playoff seemed obtainable.
Then NASCAR announced the start of the race was under review and shortly thereafter issued Busch a penalty. He fell to 43rd, but stayed on the lead lap and quickly set about recouping the lost track position.
Just past the halfway point Busch was 10th and moved to seventh following a sequence of green-flag pit stops when a caution for a Lap 197 crash involving Joey Gase and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. slowed the proceedings.
The race never resumed. Rain began falling as cars circled under the yellow flag and when the precipitation increased, NASCAR called the race 93 laps short of the scheduled distance.
Busch missed transferring by 21 points, as Martin Truex Jr. claimed the final spot in the four-driver championship field. Also advancing were Jeff Gordon, defending Sprint Cup champion Kevin Harvick, and Kurt’s younger brother, Kyle.
“I had a great season, we won two races, sat on three poles,” Busch said. “We did everything possible to put polish on a season like this and get out there with elbow grease and work hard it, and you know, when there’s some tarnish that’s sitting there, polish and polish and polish, that’s all I kept doing all year.”
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