Week 11 GFT NASCAR AI Driver Rankings: Kyle Busch Wins Talladega, Jumps up to P3 in the Rankings
23 April 2023
By Bob Francis, Managing Editor
Go Full Throttle Racing News
TALLADEGA, AL — Another overtime GWC finish and another pile of crashed cars on a Superspeedway, but for Kyle Busch it was time to gamble and not pit although low on fuel. In the 2nd overtime restart, Busch survived a spinning Bubba Wallace after the White Flag had waived, securing his second career win at Talladega — the first coming 15 years (and 55 wins) ago. “The seas kind of parted there when they [Blaney and Wallace] went up the race track there,” Busch said. “They were trying to push-draft and these cars are just not stable enough to do that. I saw the 23 (Bubba Wallace) turn a little bit sideways, and I was like, ‘just get out of the way.’ ”
Top 5 at Talladega:
P1 Kyle Busch, Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
P2 Ryan Blaney, Team Penske Ford
P3 Chris Buescher, RFK Racing Ford
P4 Chase Briscoe, Stewart Haas Racing Ford
P5 Brad Keselowski, RFK Racing Ford
RANKINGS IMPACT:
Christopher Bell holds onto the top spot with a 8th place finish at Talladega. Kyle Larson moves up one spot to P2, and with the win, Kyle Busch jumps 5 spots to P3.
NASCAR Media Conference Press Conference
Sunday, April 23, 2023 An Interview with: Kyle Busch
THE MODERATOR: We are joined by our race winner, Kyle Busch.
Kyle, congratulations on that win. 10 races into the season, you now have two wins with your team at RCR. Tell us about those final laps, what it means to have two wins in the books at this point in the season.
KYLE BUSCH: “It means a lot obviously. Last time I won here, 15 years ago, my first year with JGR. Here we are with my first year in RCR being able to get back into Victory Lane at Talladega. It’s been a little bit.
It is really cool to welcome on a new partner of ours with McLaren Custom Grills, to score a win with them and RCR, Team Chevy, to get the Camaro in Victory Lane here, really good for us.
We were obviously short on fuel, kind of stretching it. I don’t think we would have taken that chance, I probably wouldn’t have taken that chance of staying out but for the win in Fontana. That opened up our playbook, gave us a chance to be up front, restart up front and go for a win today.
Yeah, just being in the right place at the right time. Sometimes you got to be lucky. Feels good to have that. I’m sure all of you guys are going to be going to Cheddar’s tomorrow for your free tender meal as I probably need to send Brexton over there, we’ll get some of our own.”
