Kyle Busch reacts to another close miss at Darlington: 'I wanted it this week'

Kyle Busch had his chances to steal a win and make the NASCAR playoff field over the last few weeks, but he couldn’t quite take it all the way home.

On Sunday it was a second-place finish behind Chase Briscoe after a battle in the final laps. For a minute, Busch thought he could get all the way there.

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“Yeah, I did when I made it through a few of those guys right there on the start, I thought we’d have a shot to get there,” he said on the USA broadcast after the race. “I think I just needed him to have maybe three or four more laps older tires for me to be able to break through the wake once I got within his air. I really didn’t have enough to power through that to get closer. I was kind of sliding already.”

Busch narrowed the gap to a couple car lengths but didn’t have the final push to get over the edge and take home the all-important win. So his lengthy streak of seasons with a win will come to an end.

The good news? Kyle Busch was doing his best racing toward season’s end.

“Hate it for our guys, everybody on our team, everybody at RCR and this Morgan & Morgan Chevrolet,” Busch said. “They turned it around the last four or five weeks and we’ve run a lot better, and that’s been much improved and beneficial to our team and the organization.

“Something to build on and get better for. We just missed a lot in the early part of the year and through the middle part of the year to put ourselves in this spot and be on the outside looking in. To come in here for a last-ditch effort and have a shot… early in the race I wouldn’t have thought we had a shot, so felt like we really overachieved there toward the end and got a really good finish for what we had, or what I thought we had. We’ll take it and keep building on it.”

Last week it was a second-place finish at Daytona. And there have been other races that Kyle Busch has been competitive in.

“And Atlanta. It’s just short. Come up short,” Busch said. “Maybe I am a washed up old dog, but hopefully I can find a few more trophies.”

It’s certainly not for lack of effort, as Kyle Busch’s driving the last few weeks is a testament to. Unfortunately it was just too little, too late for the two-time Cup Series champion.

“I wanted it last week. I wanted it this week. I wanted it at Atlanta. I wanted it at Vegas,” Busch said. “There’s been a lot of opportunities. Daytona 500 we were up front all day. I can count them at least on a hand, maybe I need two hands to count opportunities that have slipped away. We’re achieving right now and getting success from those runs and pulling in those finishes that we need.”