Kyle Busch wrecks racing Denny Hamlin in closing laps, forces overtime at Brickyard 400
Kyle Busch was in position to score a much-needed top-10 finish in Sunday’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway before his race came to an abrupt end.
Racing with Denny Hamlin for fifth with three laps to go, Busch came into Turn 3 low and made contact with his former Joe Gibbs Racing teammate. Busch’s No. 8 Chevrolet spun and hit the outside wall.
It’s an unfortunate chain of events for Busch, but quite symbolic of his season to this point. His career-long winless streak now extends to 43 and he falls even further out of the playoff race. This is also Busch’s sixth DNF in the last eight races, a disastrous stretch for the two-time Cup Series champion.
It’s clear this just isn’t Busch’s season as Richard Childress Racing has often struggled to field competitive racecars week in and week out. And when Busch has had weeks like at IMS where he’s been fighting for top 10s, something has always seemed to go wrong and most times late in the race.
Kyle Busch facing must-win scenario to get into postseason
With just four regular season races remaining, the reality is Busch must find his way to Victory Lane to avoid missing out on the postseason for the first time this season. Perhaps the two-week Olympic break is just what he needs but even then, Hamlin isn’t quite convinced a win is in the cards.
“What have you seen that makes you think he’s gonna win a race?” Hamlin said this week on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast. “Can he win a race? Yes, absolutely. But not like legitimately. He’s not gonna win one legitimately and that’s just a fact and I apologize to the Kyle Busch fans listening, but we have to be honest with ourselves. I’m not putting this on Kyle, trust me I’ve been teammates with him, the guy is elite. He’s great. But you gotta show that you can at least consistently run in the top-five to even have a chance to win, and we haven’t seen that lately.
“The speed hasn’t been there. Now can he win a race? Yes, Joey Logano won a race from 17th at Nashville. So, it is possible but you’re gonna need some crazy sh*t to happen. The odds are very, very low that you’re gonna win a race running 17th all day. You’re gonna need fuel mileage to be a factor, you’re just gonna need chaos at the end and trust me, NASCAR racing nowadays that’s half of what it is. There’s always a chance. But realistically as a Kyle Busch fan that I am, it’s just not a legit possibility right now from what I’ve seen. I just don’t see them showing up one weekend and then all of a sudden being the fastest car on the racetrack.”