DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — In April, Kyle Busch fell a lap down at Talladega and came back to win. So when a steering problem dropped him to the back of the field at Daytona, he didn’t panic.
He simply settled in for the long drive back to the front.
And back to Victory Lane.
Busch bested Carl Edwards in a door-to-door drag race Saturday night that ended under caution with Busch earning his Sprint Cup Series-best sixth victory of the season.
“That’s him,” crew chief Steve Addington said with a shrug.
Say what you want about Busch, the driver NASCAR fans love to hate. But the kid doesn’t quit, not when a checkered flag is on the line.
“It’s me who has to stay a little calm and get back in the rhythm of what was going on,” Busch said of his knack for overcoming diversity at restrictor-plate tracks. “I just made sure I drove a smart race and finished it out, and whatever came to us would come to us.”
What he got was his 12th victory of the season spanning all three of NASCAR’s top series.
But he had to wait several anxious moments for this one, which wasn’t decided until NASCAR reviewed the running order at the moment the final caution came out.
Busch and Edwards were drag racing with a little more than a lap remaining when a multicar accident brought out the caution behind them. The field was frozen, and while Edwards was pretty sure Busch was a nose ahead, no one was 100 percent certain.
“I can’t believe that we’re here right now,” Busch said in Victory Lane. “We didn’t have the best car. Luckily we were leading there when it mattered most.”
Edwards finished second and was disappointed not to have one last lap to finish his race with Busch.
“Man, I hate to lose the thing like that,” Edwards said.
Matt Kenseth, Edwards’ teammate at Roush Fenway Racing, was third. He was followed by Kurt Busch, Roush driver David Ragan and Robby Gordon. Kasey Kahne, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Clint Bowyer and Mark Martin rounded out the top 10.
It seemed Jeff Gordon was headed to his first victory of the season as he led 46 laps late and was handily holding off Busch as the race wound down. But with four laps to go, Busch pulled inside of Gordon and claimed the lead mere seconds before a multiple-car accident brought out a caution.
