Oh brother! Kurt Busch edges brother Kyle for the win at Atlanta
By Bob Pockrass
FOX Sports NASCAR Writer
HAMPTON, Ga. – Kurt Busch doesn’t know where he will race next year, and his crew members don’t know where they will work.
What does the Chip Ganassi Racing team know? It is headed to the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
Busch captured the Quaker State 400 Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway with a pass of brother Kyle Busch with 25 laps remaining.
Now a winner in 18 of his 21 full-time years as a Cup driver, Busch is a free agent after this season and Ganassi’s NASCAR organization has been bought by Trackhouse Racing effective the end of the year.
"With the news of things changing, and this is where you just put the blinders on and you try to – I try to coach them through this the best that I can to be my best leader that I can be," Kurt Busch said.
"These are those moments in your career where you look back on and you go, ‘I gave it everything I had.’"
Here are three takeaways from Atlanta:
Big Brother victory
Kurt Busch reveled in one-upping his younger brother, noting that they are an even 2-2 in races where they finish 1-2. Kyle Busch does have two Cup titles to his brother’s one and still has more Cup wins at 59-33.
"It's an awesome genuine battle between the two of us," Kurt Busch said.
"We've had some friction over the years, but as we get older we've gotten slightly bit wiser and we've raced each other with a ton of respect. ... I know that as we've gotten older, the stats have stacked in his favor, and I've come to agreement with that in my own mind."
They were supposed to fly back on Kyle Busch’s plane, but Kurt Busch was expecting to have to drive home after the win. He said Kyle "did stop by Victory Lane and do the Kyle Busch grumpy."
"It's only about four hours [to drive] back to Charlotte, so it's not too big of a deal tonight," Kurt Busch said. "But I'm pretty sure Kyle has already taken off.
"But we've got the trophy. I ain't worried about it."
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Kurt gets teammate help
Kurt Busch was able to gain ground on Kyle Busch when Kurt’s Ganassi teammate Ross Chastain ran the same line as Kyle when Kyle attempted to put him a lap down.
That block allowed Kurt to get inside of Kyle and then complete the pass shortly after both passed him.
"It shows what kind of POS he is," Kyle Busch said. "Lost us the race. There’s definitely a teammate aspect there, but there’s also a race on the line. ... Some guys do that and some guys don’t.
"Those who do will get it back."
Chastain said he would expect anyone who loses in that situation to be upset right after the race and he hoped he could explain himself to Kyle.
"Staying on the lead lap is the focus at that point no matter who it is," he said. "Kurt [then] asked for the bottom. I gave it to him. That’s that."
Kurt said that in the regular season in that situation, that is an ethical move for a driver. He said if it was the playoffs where a win advances a driver to the next round, it might not be as embraced.
"That was exactly what a teammate needs to do, and Ross did that in a way that gave me a sense of pride on the education and the mentorship that I have helped Ross with this year," Kurt Busch said. "It was a perfect give-back."
Time to repave
Within an hour after the checkered flag, Atlanta Motor Speedway workers began removing the fencing and the walls at the track as part of a repave and reconfiguration of the surface.
Drivers had lobbied over the last four years for the track not to repave, but it was finally time. A piece of the track came up during the race, which had to be halted 19 minutes for repairs.
"I’m going to miss it," said Penske driver Ryan Blaney. "It was fun to run on it. ... I’ll take one last good look at it and it’ll be a lot different when we come back here next year."
Bob Pockrass has spent decades covering motorsports, including the past 30 Daytona 500s. He joined FOX Sports in 2019 following stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @bobpockrass.
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