Kevin Harvick levels dose of reality on Kyle Busch: ‘This one is 100-percent on him’

Kevin Harvick didn’t mince words directed at Kyle Busch following another disappointing finish for the No. 8 team at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Some thought the return of the Brickyard 400 would do wonders for Busch, as he’s a former winner of the event, and it looked like he was going to secure a solid finish, but then he wrecked while attempting to pass Denny Hamlin with only a few laps left in the race. It was a disastrous turn of events.

On the latest episode of Harvick’s Happy Hour, Harvick explained why it’s tough to have sympathy for Busch, as the former Cup Series champion disagreed with the No. 8’s driving at the end of the race in Indianapolis.

“This is a loaded scenario, because I feel like Kyle is driving way over his head,” Harvick said. “His cars are off the pace certain weeks. But in this scenario, he’s passing Denny Hamlin. He’s in the top five, passing Denny Hamlin, and just way overdrives the corner. Drives into the side of Denny Hamlin and wrecks himself. So, he’s had a ton of bad luck. He’s as frustrated as I’ve ever seen Kyle Busch in his racing career. He handles it better than he did before. But, he’s also crashing a lot in practice. He’s crashing in these scenarios, where he just needs to finish, gain some points and just get the car rolling across the start-finish-line.

“He’s been in scenarios where it hasn’t been his fault, but this one is 100% on him, with a car that they ran in the back with for a majority of the day. They wound up in the front, making a pass inside the top five, you’ve got to finish those. You’ve got to get those to the start-finish-line, and finish those days out to start the bleeding. Right now, he’s bleeding from every direction that you can bleed from, and I think, in some of the situations, you’ve just got to take a deep breath, and maybe it’s let’s finish fifth instead of fourth, instead of third and get to the finish line.

“We’ve got to finish, to get some momentum going, because now, that momentum that you could’ve had, is dead in the water, because you just plowed it into the fence. … Even if 50% of (his wrecks) are dumb luck, let’s get the other 50% to the finish line. At some point, you’ve got to be the guy who’s getting those cars to the start-finish-line. You can’t keep making the mistakes that you’re making, when you know you’re way behind the eight ball anyway.”

Perhaps a two-week break will work wonders for Kyle Busch. He’s on the fringe of the playoffs at the moment, but it’ll be up to the two-time champion to right the ship and make it to the dance, effectively saving a disappointing season in the process.