A win for Kyle Busch at Gateway makes this season look a lot like his triumphant 2019

Kyle Busch must have channeled some 2019 magic this weekend.

The driver of the No. 8 car won his third race of the season on Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway just outside of St. Louis. He did so after starting on the pole for the first time since 2019 — and he did so, too, after persevering through 11 cautions, three red flags and an overtime finish.

This marks Busch’s third win of 2023 — his most since 2019, when he won five races and earned his second career Cup Series championship.

“That was pretty awesome,” Busch told the FOX Sports broadcast after his celebratory burnout and a bear hug from his son, Brexton, near the start-finish line. “Man, to sit on the pole and lead a whole lot of laps, and have my guys do such a great job today, was pretty phenomenal for us. Great for RCR.”

Denny Hamlin finished second. Joey Logano was third.

Busch, who now has 63 Cup victories to his name and has now won at 24 different Cup venues, hung around the Top 5 all day. He led a race-high 121 laps and took the lead four times — mostly from Blaney, who led 83 laps on Sunday.

The pivotal moment in Sunday’s race came just after Lap 183. Kyle Larson took two tires and beat the field off pit road after a caution. Busch remained resolute though — confident that his 8 car was the fastest in the field — and soon overtook him and never again relinquished the lead.

Sunday’s victory only adds to the lore of Busch’s offseason decision to come to Richard Childress Racing after Joe Gibbs Racing all but vanquished him from the team. Busch now has three wins alone — which is as many as JGR has on the season — and he’s running with a confidence like he once did every week when the driver was at the peak of his powers.

So could 2023 turn into another 2019?

That run has already begun.

“We’re going to have a great time with this one,” Busch said of Sunday’s victory. “This one is pretty cool.”

4 other notes from World Wide Technology Raceway

▪ A fourth-place finish for Kyle Larson was quite honorable. Larson has finished second to Busch five times — and even though he didn’t quite do that this time, his run on Sunday was mighty impressive. The Hendrick Motorsports driver had a tough day in qualifying on Saturday and had to start 22nd. He rose up the field as he tends to do, but it took him virtually the entire race to do so. It’s worth noting that the rest of HMS did not have a typical Sunday showing: William Byron finished eighth, Corey LaJoie (filling in for the suspended Chase Elliott) finished P21 and Alex Bowman finished P26.

▪ Ryan Blaney was great. The driver of the No. 12 car followed up his win at Charlotte Motor Speedway last weekend with a great performance at Gateway. He notched a Stage 2 win and hung tough in the Top 5 for virtually the entire caution-cluttered third stage. Blaney finished P6 and was one of four Fords to finish in the Top 10 — including his Team Penske teammate Joey Logano (who finished P3). Blaney now leads the series in points.

▪ Brake rotors ruin promising days for a handful of drivers. Carson Hocevar, the popular 20-year-old Truck Series driver who was filling in for Corey LaJoie in the 7 car, was one of them. He was running as good as 16th on Sunday before his brake rotor gave out and his day ended. He said after emerging from the infield care center that he hopes this isn’t the last time he gets a chance in a Cup car. (Based on how he raced Sunday, it won’t be.)

Others with brake rotor issues include Bubba Wallace, who had finished in the Top 5 the last four race weekends; Tyler Reddick, who fought his way from back-of-the-pack and into the Top 10 on Sunday; and Noah Gragson, whose big single-car crash prompted a red flag with 58 laps to go. Gragson told FOX Sports after his race ended that it was “a hard-ass hit” and exhaled while explaining how difficult of a year it has been at Legacy Motor Club.

▪ A huge lightning hold delayed Sunday’s race. The green flag was supposed to fly a few minutes after 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday — and it did, technically. But then lightning arrived in the St. Louis area a handful of laps in, and that prompted a weather delay that lasted an hour and 45 minutes. This is the second bit of bad luck with weather in as many weekends for NASCAR. A ton of on-track action was postponed during last weekend’s festivities at Charlotte Motor Speedway; the Coca-Cola 600 ran on Monday.

Visit NASCAR.com for full results of Sunday’s race.