Kurt Busch "gave it everything" for big points day at Road America

Kurt Busch further solidified himself above the playoff cutline with a strong Sunday afternoon at Road America.

A consistent top 10 contender during the Jockey Made in America 250, Busch and his Chip Ganassi Racing team grabbed another bucketful of points, 41. Busch finished ninth in the first stage and fifth in the second. An overall fourth-place result tied his best effort of the season.

“It was fun,” Busch said. “I really enjoyed Road America and just the whole challenge of running here; posting good laps early with fresh tires and then managing the tires on the long run. I knew our strategy was to go for stage points, which, man, I was going to have to work hard today.

“I gave it everything I could. So, I think we got a lot of points with the Monster Energy Chevy.”

Busch entered the weekend three points above the cutline on the playoff grid, which he moved into after the first race at Pocono Raceway last weekend. His advantage is now 25 points over Chris Buescher with six races left in the regular season.

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Road America continues a hot streak for Busch and his team. Busch has finished eighth or better in four of the last five races, going from 18th to 14th in the championship standings. And he’s shined on the road courses with three top-six finishes in the four events that have been run.

“I’m just really proud of our group,” said Busch, who ran at Road America in an Xfinity Series race back in 2012. “I worked through the simulator work and worked through everything we could. I put one tire wrong today and gave up one point to [Kyle] Larson in Stage 2.

“I really enjoyed coming up here today, and the Wisconsin people were great. There were tons of old-school gear that I saw from racing back in my Penske days. The fans here were just ecstatic that the Cup Series was here. It was a lot of fun.”