At the end of Stage 1, Kyle Busch found himself hitting the wall, but Ross Chastain took the worst of it and was a DNF on the day. Chastain ended up being second-to-last only to the disqualified Kevin Harvick. He also slipped from 6th to 11th in the NASCAR Playoff standings.
When the checkered flag waved, Kyle Busch only managed a P25 finish. It was a tough day for the two-time Cup Series champion. While he didn’t think the contact with Chastain caused his issues, he felt bad about the incident.
After the race, Busch talked about the wreck.
“I would suspect he [Ricky Stenhouse Jr.] ran out of fuel and I was stuck behind him and he never waved,” Busch said to Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports. “It was really late by the time I pulled out, tried to pull out as smooth and as slow as I could, and caught the 1 [Chastain] so I hate it for the 1 and those guys. It’s what happens every time at the end of a stage.”
“The car was fine, when I could make moves and make good positions and put myself in good spots I could get up towards the front. Then, my chess match is apparently horrible or I get hung out every time it comes down to the end and just lose spots.”
Kyle Busch has struggled in these playoffs. He is 12th overall and likely has to win at the Roval to advance. If not, he’s going to find himself out of the playoffs early once again.
Everything has gone wrong for Kyle Busch
There was a point in time, most of the season in fact, where Kyle Busch was a major championship threat. It felt like he was just going to make his way to the championship race in Phoenix no matter what.
That’s just not how the NASCAR Playoffs work, though. Busch has had trouble with mechanical issues, wrecks, and everything in between. At Talladega, no one wanted to push with Rowdy in the draft, and he couldn’t go anywhere because of it.
These playoffs have not been great for more than just Busch. Again, Chastain has now fallen below the cutline. The Round of 12 has not gone well for Tyler Reddick, either.
Kyle Busch might figure it out next week. Richard Childress Racing has had a lot of bright spots this year. So, with one more shot at making the semi-final round, the 8 team is going to have to pull out all the stops and hope they can make the transfer.
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