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Kurt Busch looks to conquer the Monster Mile with Monster Energy

Since winning the Daytona 500, Kurt Busch has been in a funk.

Kurt Busch, Stewart-Haas Racing Ford

Kurt Busch, Stewart-Haas Racing Ford

Matthew T. Thacker / NKP / Motorsport Images

Kurt Busch, Stewart-Haas Racing Ford
Kurt Busch, Stewart-Haas Racing Ford
Kurt Busch, Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, Ty Dillon, Germain Racing Chevrolet
Joey Logano, Team Penske Ford, Kurt Busch, Stewart-Haas Racing Ford
Kurt Busch, Stewart-Haas Racing Ford
Kurt Busch, Stewart-Haas Racing Ford

But the Coca-Cola 600 signaled a sea change for the No. 41 Haas Automation team on Sunday night. 

Busch led the Blue Oval Brigade with his sixth-place finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the driver’s sixth top10 in 12 starts this season. 

“We did well,” Busch said. “We battled and battled and had fun throughout. The balance of our car was too tight to start and too loose on the long run. We saw a little bit of that in the All-Star Race, so we tried to compensate. 

“The track came to us with the rain delay. I thought we were a stronger car in the later half of the race. The short run speed we were tight, the long run speed we were loose, but we tried and tried and tried. Thanks to Haas Automation, Monster Energy and Ford. I’ve got a great group of guys. (Sunday) was a good run. We finished sixth, but some guys stayed out on fuel and we really gave it our heart tonight.”

Busch started 12th. He was 11th out of the pits following the Lap 20 caution and quickly moved up into the top 10 where he remained most of the race. While his Stewart-Haas teammate Kevin Harvick started from the pole and led 42 laps in Stage 1, Busch was the only SHR driver to earn points in all three segments. Prior to Sunday, Busch had only finished in the top 10 in four stages all season.

“I knew the stages were gonna be important tonight because there were more available,” Busch said of NASCAR adding a third stage for the 600-mile event. “All year we hadn’t gained our stage points and it seems like we’re working the hardest for the least amount of points. 

“It’s like we’re running 8th to 12th and sometimes we gain one point in a stage, sometimes we don’t get any, but tonight it was a really good pit stop that put us up to fifth. Then we had a bad one and got back to 12th, then another good one and got back up to seventh.  We had a couple good restarts at the end and give it our best.”

Busch moved up to 14th in the standings with his 13th top-10 result at Charlotte. But he already has his sights set on Dover International Speedway. Busch finished fifth in this race last year — his first top-five finish since winning the 2011 fall race at the Monster Mile.

“The tough thing about Dover is things happen so quickly,” Busch said. “At any moment at any time, somebody can spin in front of you or you can lose control off the corners and you are going to wreck. There is no real forgiveness about Dover. That is what makes it tough. 

"To be good there, you have to be good on corner exit. The track really rubbers in so you can see the concrete change to black as the weekend progresses. On corner exit, you get really tight or really loose. The time I won there, I could almost hold it wide open on corner exit. That is what you’ve got to have.

“You’re just on edge there and, the speed that you have to carry on corner exit, you’re right there at the wall every corner exit and you do it 800 times with 400 laps and two corner exits. That makes it tough. This race will wear you out, for sure, and you have to pace yourself.”

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