Denny Hamlin says Kyle Busch was ‘nonexistent’ at Darlington

Kyle Busch was surprisingly a non-factor during Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway.

Busch, who started 11th, finished a disappointing 27th and failed to lead a single lap. As Denny Hamlin put it on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast, the two-time Cup Series champion was “nonexistent” at Darlington.

“[Kyle was] nonexistent yesterday, holy s***,” Hamlin said. “He was bad. Bad all day.”

Busch, coming off a P4 finish at Dover and P8 finish at Kansas, slipped to 13th in the points standings after his run at Darlington. Still on the hunt for his first win of the season, Busch said he “just didn’t have any grip” for the majority of the race.

“We had a tough day today but my crew chief, Randall Burnett, and all the guys on the zone Chevrolet team never gave up. They made adjustment after adjustment all day long but just weren’t able to hit on a combination that worked. I just didn’t have any grip anywhere for much of the race,” Busch said after the race, via John Newby of NBC Sports. “In the last stage, Randall made the call to short pit, and we gained track position, cycling up to 12th-place.

“We made our last stop with 40 or so laps to go but got zapped by a caution just a few laps later. We took the wave around and got back on the lead lap but unfortunately, we couldn’t make up that lost track position.”

Kyle Busch struggles in Truck, Cup Series races at Darlington

On top of his struggles in the Cup Series race, Busch’s fifth and final CRAFTSMAN Truck Series start this season went up in smoke on Lap 2 of Friday’s race. Busch lost control of his No. 7 Chevrolet coming off of Turn 2, spinning out and making contact with the inside wall. He tried to return to the race after getting some repairs, but wrecked again on Lap 12, ending his race for good.

“The Lady in Black” was just “Too Tough to Tame” for Busch this weekend.

“The truck was wrecked,” Busch said after the Truck Series race. “There’s no reason it should have been back on the racetrack.”