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Kyle Busch Recounts Disappointing NASCAR Race at Homestead-Miami, Looks Forward to Las Vegas

Published 03/02/2021, 7:00 AM EST

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USA Today via Reuters

At the Homestead-Miami Speedway, Kyle Busch endured a fairly disappointing race by his standards. He already had a tough task ahead of him, starting 24th on the grid. Nevertheless, he managed to claw his way up the order and eventually finished 15th.

Driving the lavender M&M’S Fudge Brownie Toyota, Busch steadily progressed to 15th by lap five. From there, he maintained his position until the mandatory caution flag waved on lap 25.

After a round of pit stops, the Joe Gibbs Racing team managed to help him vault up two positions into 13th. Unfortunately, it did not last, as he dropped back to 15th during the next caution on lap 65.

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Apparently, he had complaints that his #18 Toyota felt way too loose. After pitting for adjustments, Kyle Busch dropped to 18th before finishing Stage 1 in 15th place again.

After the race, he said, “We struggled a bit tonight with our M&M’S Fudge Brownie Camry. We finally got the handling back in the right direction there closer to the end, but we just didn’t quite have the longevity we were looking for.

“We’ll take what we learned today and hopefully get better for Las Vegas next weekend.”

How did the rest of the race pan out for Kyle Busch?

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Admittedly, the double Cup Series champion was yo-yoing up and down the order during Stage 2. He started ninth and was running at a decent pace for a while. Unfortunately, the car struggled heavily with its handling and he wound up back in 16th place.

via Getty

Luckily, the final stage was a lot kinder, despite him starting 19th on the road. For a while, it seemed that Kyle Busch and the Joe Gibbs Racing team got to the bottom of the issues, as he moved up to 12th by lap 175. Once again, a clever pit strategy paid off handsomely, as he gained three spots.

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In the end, he managed to drag the car to 10th on the track. This was after the team figured out that their solution was temporary. Apparently, the car was not doing too great in long runs; nevertheless, he persevered.

REVEALED! Kyle Busch to Run This Unique Livery for NASCAR Cup Race at Homestead-Miami

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Written by:

Dhruv George

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.
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