Busch's win was big but playoff points "are going to be colossal"

Kyle Busch’s victory Sunday at Pocono Raceway did far more than end a career-long winless streak.

Busch’s victory in the Overton’s 400 was his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win of the season, essentially locking him in the playoffs. And the win did end his career-worst 36-race winless streak.

But on his way to victory, Busch achieved another important accomplishment – he nearly doubled his playoff point total in one race.

“It was a huge concern,” Busch’s crew chief, Adam Stevens, said of his team’s lack of playoff points this season. “I didn’t really have any fears that we wouldn't make the (playoffs) with our points position.

“So, it was all about the playoff points. You only get them one at a time when you win the stage. We’ve won the second most stages. But (Martin Truex Jr.) has won a bunch.”

Truex and his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team have 29 playoff points, an amount amassed through three race wins and 14 Stage victories.

Busch entered Sunday’s race with just seven playoff points – all through Stage victories.

Sunday’s victory and Stage 1 win gave Busch six more playoff points. Were the playoffs to begin today, Busch would be tied for the third-most and seeded seventh – a five position improvement from before Sunday’s race.

“Those (playoff points) add up, but they add up slowly. You have guys that have busted off a couple wins,” Stevens said. “You get in these short three-race segments (in the playoffs), those playoff points are going to be colossal. 

“The sooner we can start racking them up, the better. There’s no better way to do that than to get to Victory Lane.”

Five races remain for Busch and his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing team to help narrow the playoff point margin.

The tracks – Watkins Glen, Michigan, Bristol, Darlington and Richmond – have been good ones for Busch in the past.

“At a moment in the race I think I was running sixth. I was counting how many guys in front of me had wins, how many didn’t, who I was hoping didn’t win, you know,” Busch said.

“We don't have to worry about that any more. Now we can just focus on how we’re going to win the race, what we’re going to do. You try to do that every weekend, but sometimes that thought does cross your mind.”