Kurt Busch wants wider spoilers to help with stability and side drafting at restrictor plate tracks
Kurt Busch ran 2nd yesterday at Talladega Superspeedway. In the closing laps, Harvick and Busch both lines up behind Logano.
It was a perfect scenario for the Stewart-Haas Racing camp to set up a move on the leader as the lap count came to a close. However, that didn’t materialize.
Instead, Kurt Busch blocked a run from Stenhouse Jr which ended up pushing him by Harvick who went on to finish 4th. Joey Logano went on to win the race.
“It was an awesome finish. But, I thought the two Stewart-Haas cars running 2nd and 3rd, we should have been able to pull this off,” Kurt Busch said from the Talladega Superspeedway media center.
Ricky Stenhouse came up from behind and tried to make some moves. 9 times out of 10, the #17 car, statistically is going to be the guy to beat at a plate race.”
“Once he got to my rear bumper the one time and pushed me by Kevin, he didn’t get to stay with me. I lost track of him. Everybody’s back there 3 wide, rippin’ and gougin’ tryin’ to go hard.”
“It takes two cars to break through the leader. I’m happy that a Ford won. It wasn’t the right one. Kevin was in good position and I was going to roll with him in any direction that I could.”
“You wish you could go over and do it again. I feel like I left that one out on the table.”
Kurt Busch further explains the move that separated the SHR teammates…
“I was going to roll with Kevin in whichever direction he went. Stenhouse came with such a run from behind. I knew the #9 would shove to the inside and it would be the #41 and the #17 on the outside.”
“It happened for half a straight-away and then things kinda broke apart. With everybody getting stuck side by side.”
If I had to do it over again. I just needed to manage the run that the #17 had on me. When we stayed single fine, the #22, the #4 and the #41, we could lay down some quick lap times and the others couldn’t quite catch us.”
“Once it’s 5 to go, nobody’s really caring what brand you got under the hood or the shape of their car. It’s my job to help Kevin a little bit further, two to go [or] 1 to go.”
Rules package
Kurt Busch feels the current NASCAR package could be improved.
“I feel like the ride height rule dropped the rear of the car even more from where it was at Daytona. When you look at some of the numbers, there’s less downforce on the cars.”
“These rear spoilers, still to me, are way too narrow. They need to be all the way out, to the edge of the fender. So, that it’s easier to side draft off people. That would help with stability and it would help with side drafting.”
More
Related: 2018 NASCAR Rules Package
Related: Talladega Superspeedway Race Results: April 29, 2018
Links
Kurt Busch | Stewart-Haas Racing | Talladega Superspeedway | NASCAR
