Kurt Busch is likely going to be utilizing his waiver to get into the Chase.
Busch, who missed the first three races of the season because of an idefinite NASCAR suspension, won Sunday's rain-delayed race at Richmond, his first in over a season.
"It's an incredible feeling," Busch said in victory lane. "It's a total team effort. The way everything came together it just seemed like we were building and building and building toward a great finish like this ... It's an unbelievable feeling when you pull deep from within, you go through troubles. When you're accused of something and things go sideways, your personal life doesn't need to affect your business life and I'm here in victory lane."
The 2004 Sprint Cup Series champion was suspended two days before the season-opening Daytona 500 after a Delaware county commissioner ruled that it was more likely than not Busch committed an act of abuse against his girlfriend in September 2014 (you probably remember the hearing for its trained assassin accusations).
He was reinstated before the fourth race of the season at Phoenix following a decision not to press criminal charges by the Delaware attorney general's office. Upon his reinstatement, NASCAR waived the requirement for a driver to make an attempt to start every race to be eligible for the Chase.
As soon as he got in the car at Phoenix, he was fast, much like he was fast at Richmond. Busch took the lead for the first time in Sunday's race at lap 94 and stayed near the front the rest of the way, leading 291 of the race's 400 laps. Or, if you prefer, 291 of the race's 307 laps since he first took the lead.
Yeah, Busch had a damn good car.
His biggest threat for the win might have been Jamie McMurray, who briefly took the lead from him for four laps. However, McMurray, who made progress on Busch during long green-flag runs, never pulled in on Busch's bumper after the race's final restart with 27 laps to go and was passed by Kevin Harvick for second place.
When Busch was reinstated from his suspension, it seemed clear that he would have to get a win to make the Chase. The three missed races would likely prevent him from being able to qualify for the Chase on points alone. But Phoenix was a harbinger of Busch's 2015. He finished fifth there and had led laps in the four other races he's been in while finishing all in the top 15.
There's no doubt that Busch is a legitimate championship contender at this point in the season. He's shown speed to rival his teammate (and points leader) Harvick and has so far avoided the terrible finishes that plagued his 2014 campaign. If you're making a short list of drivers who can dethrone Harvick this year, Busch has to be on it, and it's now all-but guaranteed he'll be racing for the championship.
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