Kyle Busch was despondent after spinning from the lead with 31 laps to go, losing his shot of ending a 50-race winless streak. The veteran driver was trying to hold back Ross Chastain in an intense back-and-forth battle when he spun at the exit of Turn 2. Busch was put in an awkward aero spot behind a defensive Chase Briscoe -- a playoff driver racing hard to stay on the lead lap.
"I am sure he was racing to stay on the lead lap with whoever was in front of him there," said Busch after the race. "Granted they have a race to run, but back in the old days when you were under 30 to go or whatever it was, lap traffic would kind of lay over and give you a lane and let the leaders race. I just wasn’t getting that, so I tried to force my hand into getting that and get to his outside, and for whatever reason, it just gave all the air in all the wrong places and I spun out.”
Busch explained it was "just air" when asked about the incident as the cars never actually touched. "I guess I just got into too big a hurry," he lamented.
Chastain inherited the lead from Busch after the spin and went on to win the race.
The two-time Cup champion had fought hard to get in front of Chastain in a thrilling battle before the final cycle of green-flag stops, only to see yet another win slip away. He ended up finishing a disappointing 19th. It's the latest misfortune to strike him with a potential 2024 victory in sight.
"I'm numb. I don't know what to do," Busch said.
It was extra painful for Busch who was in position to win the Southern 500 at Darlington against Briscoe, but raced him cleanly and lost out in the regular season finale. That win vaulted Briscoe into the playoffs while Busch missed out for the first time in 12 years.
"It doesn’t matter what I expect," said Busch on if he expected some courtesy from Briscoe there due to recent history. "I don’t think anybody gives anyone anything anymore. It’s all take, take, take."
Busch is the only driver in NASCAR history to win at least one Cup race every year for 19 consecutive seasons, and he has six races left to extend that record to 20.
Briscoe reacts
Briscoe reacted to the incident with remorse and frustration, wondering if the cars ever touched (they did not).
"But these cars, they’re so sensitive," said the Stewart-Haas Racing driver. "I couldn’t really run on the wall, so I was trying to just make it where we had a car width and a couple of inches, and I saw him get loose as soon as he got to my right rear. It was unfortunate. Definitely, it didn’t feel like I was trying to do anything, I was trying literally to leave him the top lane. So, yeah, these cars, just as soon as you get off to the right, especially here when you’re running the wall, they just get really, really loose.
"I hate it for him. He’s been so close all year long, and I’m a Kyle Busch fan. So I wanted to see him keep the streak alive. I hate that we were part of the conversation.”
