Event: O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 (Round 7 of 36)
Series: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth (1.5-mile oval)
Format: 334 laps, broken into three stages (85 laps/85 laps/164 laps)
Start/Finish: 10th/10th (Running, completed 334 of 334 laps)
Point Standing: 15th (151 points, 164 out of first)
Race Winner: Jimmie Johnson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-85):
- Kurt Busch started 10th, finished 19th.
- Busch battled a tight-handling condition on corner exit during Stage 1.
- Visited pit road at the conclusion of Stage 1, got four tires, fuel and chassis and air pressure adjustments.
Stage 2 Recap (Laps 86-170):
- Started 15th, finished sixth to earn six race points.
- Struggled with a loose-handling condition for much of Stage 2.
- Visited pit road at the conclusion of Stage 2, got four tires, fuel and chassis and air pressure adjustments.
Final Stage Recap (Laps 170-334):
- Started 24th, finished 10th.
- Struggled with a loose-handling condition for much of the stage but was tight after an adjustment was made on the final stop.
- Earned his third top-10 result of 2017 by finishing 10th.
Notes:
- Busch made his 29th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series start at Texas.
Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 41 Monster Energy/Haas Automation Ford Fusion for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“We didn’t have any mistakes. We didn’t have to battle too hard on the handling. We may have tried to stay out to get points in the second segment, and that might have hurt us in the long run. We had to build all our spots back the second half of the race. The 48 was on the same sequence as us, and he is the race winner. I would say we did well today. I know we can do better. I am happy about a top-10. Now we will go to some of our favorite short tracks.”
Next Up:
The next event on the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Food City 500 Sunday, April 23 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. The race starts at 2 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX.
