Denny Hamlin reveals 'light at the end of the tunnel' for Kyle Busch

While it may be even difficult for Kyle Busch to see himself, Denny Hamlin does see a “light at the end of the tunnel” for his former Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, he said on Monday’s “Actions Detrimental” podcast.

Busch posted his fifth DNF in the last five races in Sunday’s Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono Raceway and is now 98 points behind Chris Buescher for the 16th and final spot in the 2024 Cup Series playoffs. As the old saying goes, there’s nowhere to go but up.

“The only way to approach it is to be a professional and you show up and you do your job to the best of your ability,” Hamlin said. “And then control what you can control. I mean, that’s my advice is you do the best that you possibly can and you let the chips fall where they may. You don’t have the fastest car, you try to drive that car to a couple spots better. Or just put yourself into position to where if this turns into a fuel mileage race, let’s make a call that we can win this thing on fuel mileage.

“In this points position where they’re definitely going to need to win a race, what happens is here’s where an opportunity could pop up for a team like Kyle Busch. You get inside close to that last fuel window, we’re five laps short making it on fuel. You know, screw it. Let’s pit and we’re gonna try to squeeze this thing to the end. Nobody else is gonna make it, we’re gonna pit and gonna win this thing. That’s how you make it happen. Short of that, I just don’t know how it’s gonna happen. I just haven’t seen the speed from RCR all year long. … The light at the end of the tunnel is that there’s no place to go but up. He’s had a terrible skid. I commend him so much for how he’s handling it.”

Where does Kyle Busch turn after Pocono?

Pocono was an all-around disastrous weekend for Busch from the moment he got to the racetrack. First, it was steering issues during Saturday’s practice session. Then came moments before the race began, when his car started leaking oil on pit road. His team had to repair the issue in the garage, and he started the race from the rear of the field.

Busch once again struggled to find speed before his day came to a premature end on the Lap 120 restart. Corey LaJoie hooked Busch heading into Turn 1. Busch blocked LaJoie from the bottom, who then retaliated. Busch’s No. 8 Chevrolet shot up the racetrack and took out multiple cars.

With just five regular season races remaining, the reality is that Busch will need to find his way to Victory Lane to have a shot at being a part of the postseason. Busch is currently riding a career-long 42-race winless streak and appears far, far away from a checkered flag.