Kyle Busch wins Enjoy Illinois 300 presented by TicketSmarter at World Wide Technology Raceway.
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“That was pretty awesome,” said Busch. “Man, to sit on the pole, lead lot of laps and have my guys do such a great job today was pretty phenomenal. Great for RCR. Just win, baby!”
Denny Hamlin finished in 2nd place and followed in 3rd by last year’s winner Joey Logano.
This year’s race at WWT Raceway had an odd start. All started normal, with Jackie Joyner-Kersee giving the command for the drivers to start their engines… race polesitter, Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney battled at the start, with Busch grabbing the early lead but Tyler Reddick and Ricky Stenhouse tangled bringing out a yellow and then a red flag came on lap 5 because of lightening within 8 miles of the track. It never rained at WWT Raceway but unfortunately there was still nearly a two hour delay.
When racing restarted Busch again grabbed the lead and held it to win stage 1 of the race.
In the second stage, last week’s Coca-Cola 600 winner, Ryan Blaney dominated and went on to win the stage.
William Bryon took a turn leading the race for 30 miles until Tyler Reddick brought out the caution when his car experienced a cut tire. All the drivers came into the pits and Kyle Larson’s pit crew team got Larson out quickly thanks to only changing two tires. Larson got the lead but could only hold it for 5 laps before Kyle Busch took over the lead again.
Then there were numerous caution and red flags. At the restart after each of the cautions, there was a battle between Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch. Larson and Busch would battle, sometimes going door-to-door for nearly two laps, but each time Busch would eventually power his way to the lead.
Kyle Busch’s crew chief Randall Burnett who is from Fenton, Mo and graduated from Summit High School.
“That last caution was a little agonizing,” Burnett said.
“We’re going to have a great time with this one,” said Busch “This one is pretty cool.”
Busch Wins Pole for Enjoy Illinois 300
Kyle Busch won the Pole Award for the Enjoy Illinois 300 presented by TicketSmarter with a lap of 32.08, 137.187 mph. This is his 33rd pole in 657 NASCAR Cup Series races.
It was Busch first pole in 2023.
Ryan Blaney posted second place and Denny Hamlin was 3rd.
Ty Gibbs was the fastest qualifying rookie in 15th place.
Story by Kevin Proot / St Louis Motor Racing News/stlracing.com
Photos by Larry Vancil / St Louis Motor Racing News/stlracing.com