Even with Sonoma win, Kyle Busch facing tall climb to make the Chase
On Sunday, Kyle Busch accomplished one of his two goals needed to make the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase by winning the race at Sonoma. The reality is, however, it's going to be a pretty tall order for he and the team to accomplish the second requirement to make this year's Chase. They need to be in the top 30 in points by the time the checkered flag waves at Richmond on Saturday night Sept. 12.
Let's face it: A 36th-place finish at Dover and then a dead-last finish at Michigan really has dug them into a deep hole that will be hard to escape. Granted, as we always say, winning cures all ills, so Sunday at Sonoma really helped. Kyle moved up two spots and is now sitting in 37th position with only 10 races left before the Chase field is set.
In one sense, 10 races are a lot of races. In another sense, 10 races aren't a lot of races at all. On the positive side of things, not to cast stones at the other competitors, the drivers back there in 29th and 30th positions really aren't running that well right now. So there is a chance.
Really, Kyle's team should be of one mindset and that is just go out and win. If you just go win, the points will take care of themselves. Sure, it's a pretty vertical mountain to get to where they need to be, but I remind you of two things. First, we're talking about Kyle Busch and the second thing is look what he's already overcome this season. It's a tall order, but I for one am not going to bet against him.
Joe Gibbs Racing
