Although the brash, daring and yet talented Las Vegan and NASCAR racer Kyle Busch won last Saturday’s Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, he’s got to really put the pedal to the metal if he wants to move from his 13th place in the point standings to at least 12th place- a requirement necessary to advance into Sprint Cup’s “post-season playoffs” that begin Sept. 20 in New Hampshire.
To accomplish this rather Herculean feat and become eligible for NASCAR’s 12-driver, 10-race Chase for the Championship, Busch will need to place high in the upcoming 500-miler near Atlanta and a 400-lapper at Richmond.
Kyle may have an inkling of a chance if his finish at Bristol is any indication. The Joe Gibbs Racing star led the final 68 laps around the half-mile, high-banked track and endured four double-file restarts in the final 60 laps for his fourth win and his first trophy in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup series since last May, completing the 500 laps at an 84.820 mph average speed, with a margin of victory of 0.098 seconds over second place finisher Mark Martin.
Currently, he’s standing 34 points behind 12th-place Matt Kenseth for the last playoff spot.
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