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Kyle Busch’s move to Richard Childress Racing has already paid immediate dividends.
Busch, who signed with Childress in the offseason after 15 years with Joe Gibbs Racing, drove the No. 8 Chevrolet to victory Sunday at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California.
Busch has now won a Cup Series race for 19 consecutive years, setting a new NASCAR record. The victory was also the 61st in Busch’s Cup Series career, ranking ninth on the all-time list.
“I death-gripped that wheel in the second half of the race, but we got it done,” Busch said after taking the checkered flag. “I’m going to enjoy it for sure, and hopefully there’s many more to go.”
Busch won his first career Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway back in 2005 when he was driving for Hendrick Motorsports, and he added three more victories while driving for Gibbs: back-to-back in 2013 and ’14 and five years later in 2019. Now, he takes his third different owner to victory lane.
“I think it’s just phenomenal,” Busch, the 2015 and 2019 Cup Series champion, said. “I can’t thank Richard and Judy (Childress) enough. I can’t thank (teammate) Austin (Dillon) enough for calling me and asking me to come over.”
Sunday’s win also snapped a drought of sorts for Busch. Busch won the dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway last year, but he had not won a race on pavement since taking the checkered flag at Pocono Raceway in 2021.
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Chase Elliott finished second, driving his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet through the field after starting 33rd on Sunday. Elliott finished 2.998 seconds behind Busch and more than four seconds ahead of third-place finisher Ross Chastain, who won the first two stages on the race.
