Motor Racing Digest

 

Posted by: Dave Thompson, follow @phillyfan17

August 12, 2012

The clock is ticking on Kyle Busch’s Chase hopes, and with just five races left in the regular season his only hope is to win.

After last weekend’s crash at Pocono Raceway, Busch currently sits 80 points out of the last automatic berth into the Chase. Busch has just one option at this point…win.

“It’s so frustrating because we’ve had good race cars every week and, aside from Indy a few weeks ago; we just haven’t had anything go our way,” Busch said. “That’s the way our season has gone. I don’t think we’ll be able to get back to the top-10, so we need to win to get in. We have some really good race tracks coming up. I think I’ve won at every one of them.”

Good news for Busch is the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is at Watkins Glen International this weekend for the Finger Lakes 355 at The Glen.

Busch has an average finish of 9.3 in his career at The Glen despite a 33rd-place finish in his rookie season. He won here in 2008 when he held off Tony Stewart and if not for a late caution may have won here last season.

One of his most impressive statistic for Busch at The Glen is the fact he has completed 634 out of 634 laps at the fast road course.

In last year’s Monday afternoon event, Busch restarted with the lead during a green-white-checkered finish, but Marcos Ambrose would eventually pass him for his first Cup career win. Busch was forced to settle for third place.

Busch is looking forward to his return to Watkins Glen, but knows that it takes more than a fast car to win at this tricky road course. “At Watkins Glen, the biggest thing is pit strategy,” said Busch. Other than pit strategy, “you definitely have to be good at being able to carry speed through the esses and down the long backstretch,” added Busch.

Can Busch pull out at least one more win in the final five races? The answer is, yes. He has won at all five of the final races before the start of the Chase and starts second on Sunday. Busch needs to avoid any problems on the track and be there at the end to keep his Chase hopes alive.