Kurt Busch is ‘somewhat surprised” about finishing as the top Toyota at Phoenix as the Manufacture is yet to secure a cup series win this season

Kurt Busch is ‘somewhat surprised” about finishing as the top Toyota at Phoenix as the Manufacture is yet to secure a cup series win this season

Kurt Busch

Toyota remains the only one to win a cup series race in the 2022 season whereas their rivals Chevrolet and Ford had already secured their wins this season. The best finish from a Toyota car came in the season winner in Daytona where 23X1 Racings Bubba Wallace finished P2.

The Busch brothers Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch had been the most consistent performers in Toyota with Young Kyle securing top 10 finishes in most of the races and older brother Kurt improving his finishes in every race. The duo was the Toyota driver to finish in the top 10 with Kurt finishing at P5 and Kyle at P7.

Kyle Busch
Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch

Other Toyota drivers such as Martin Truex Jr. crashed out of the race, adding to his growing number of crashes his season, finishing 35th, Christopher Bell got caught up in an early-race accident and finished 26th and Kurt Busch’s teammate Bubba Wallace ended up at 22 with a lap down.

Now the 2004 Cup Series champion has come out expressing his surprise at his finish in Arizona as the top Toyota and how the team is doing.  

Find out what Kurt Busch said

Kurt Busch
Kurt Busch

Kurt Busch said he had one of his toughest times on track on Monday with the Turn 2 incident that involved some of the cars spinning in front of him and he had to work hard to evade a crash. He added that though the team gave its best after the incident it wasn’t enough to gain more as the track got tighter their after. Kurt Busch added that the call from his crew chief Billy Scott to stay on the old tires instead of a new one when he asked was good for the team moving forward as it worked well with the car’s further runs.

“That Turn 2 was a battle – a couple of guys spun right in front of me over there. We gave it our best. Once we got that sorted out in Turn 2, some of the other parts of the track got tight for us, but my car really surprised me on the re-fires,” Kurt Busch said.

“We were okay on older tires – usually, I’m a sticker (new tire) guy. My crew chief, Billy Scott, said ‘No, you are going to stay out, buddy.’ I need sticker tires and this car reacted really well to scuffs today, so that’s good for our notebook at 23XI,” Kurt Busch added.

Kurt Busch went on to say he was surprised to be the top finishing Toyota this race ahead of his brother Kyle Busch and added that the team performed well in the west coast swing through they had a couple of hiccups here and there.

“It was somewhat of a surprise. We were just trying to get to 10th, but we will take a top-five. It’s really cool for our program. This was a good West Coast swing. Not so much on points with Stage 1 and Stage 2, but our finishes were there, and we will keep chiseling away,” says Kurt Busch.

Also read: Kevin Harvick reveals Stewart- Haas Racing has been in ‘survival’ mode in the West Coast swing