CONCORD, N.C. — In Kyle Busch’s opinion, the reason he was eliminated from the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs after the Bank of America ROVAL 400 on Sunday wasn’t because of his failure to win the race.
Yes, he was in a must-win situation entering the cutoff race for the Round of 12. Yes, his third-place finish came up short of the goal. But if it weren’t for his dismal finishes the last two weeks, his result at the ROVAL likely would’ve been enough to lock him into the Round of Eight.
Instead, the driver of the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet will have to wait until next year to contend for a third Cup Series championship.
On pit road at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL, Busch placed the blame on his shoulders.
“That’s on me, just not doing a good job at Texas (Motor Speedway) when we did have a good car. And then again, last week, being in position to score points both times at the end of the stages and losing spots,” Busch explained. “Just looked like I threw out the anchor.”
His departure from the playoff grid is disappointing, though he does recognize that the team’s progression into the Round of 12 will be a good building block for RCR’s program next year.
While Busch has been a playoff contender 16 times in his career, including this year, he points out that it’s still just his first season paired with RCR and that fact calls for a bit of grace.
“I don’t know if I expected the Round of Eight — I guess I did,” Busch said. “All in all, give me Texas back, give me Talladega back and we can do it.”
The 38-year-old did himself a favor by keeping the No. 8 up front throughout most of the final stage — increasing his odds at stealing the victory, should something happen to race-winner A.J. Allmendinger.
But Busch simply couldn’t make up the ground he needed to on the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet, or on Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron, who snuck by him for second on the final restart.
“The last three or four laps, I was getting sloppy,” Busch said. “The car was coming out of the race track and getting real challenging to drive. Just not the feel I was looking for in the long runs with these tires wearing out and everything else. But you know, we held on for third and that’s about what we expected to be able to come out of here with anyways, with our road course program.”
Though his ROVAL performance marred by issues with longevity, Busch credits the team with pulling together after a tough three-week stretch.
“The resiliency of the team is far greater than mine, probably. I’ve put ourselves in a lot of bad spots and they’ve just come to work on Monday and fought and battled through it and given us a good car to go the next week with,” Busch said. “It’s going to be bittersweet when we win in Las Vegas next week, because ‘BOOM,’ that locks you through.”
The other three drivers eliminated were Bubba Wallace, Brad Keselowski and Ross Chastain.