NASCAR insiders break down another 'missed opportunity' for Kyle Busch at Kansas

On Sunday, it felt like Kyle Busch would finally win his first race in 50 attempts, but it wasn’t meant to be as he spun out from the lead. The two-time NASCAR champion has run out of answers to his misfortunes.

Of course, it was one of a few missed opportunities on the track Sunday. It wasn’t just Busch who found himself with an issue while leading or near the front of the field.

However, looking back, Kyle Busch had the worst mistake. 32 laps to go, lapping Chase Briscoe, Busch gets in a bad aero spot and spun out. He finished the race P19.

Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic talked about the moment on The Teardown podcast.

“Kyle Busch is probably the chief person of that category who is ruing what could have been,” Gluck said. “The guy who is trying to extend his record victory streak in terms of consecutive years with a win, to 20, and it was within his grasp, and it all slipped away when he was trying to lap Chase Briscoe. What a moment there that was fairly shocking I was like, ‘Woah, what just happened?'”

Bianchi added his own thoughts about the situation. And another moment in the Next Gen you can point to for Busch.

“We’re going to talk about the others but this was one of many times today where drivers either leading or running up near the front had issues, and this was because of what Kyle Busch is racing for,” Bianchi explained. “He really has had a year where he hasn’t been in contention for many wins. Obviously, Darlington and Atlanta come to mind as exceptions. But this really felt, like, ‘Okay, here is it, here’s the opportunity.’ Chastain was there, now whether he could have held off Chastain or not, we don’t know. Certainly a missed opportunity absolutely and speaks to I think a bigger issue that’s been an issue for Kyle Busch since this new car. Which is, I don’t think his skillset is adapting well to this and it’s been a struggle for him sometimes to get his hand around it.”

Kyle Busch has struggled this year. There is no denying that. But looking at the three seasons of the Next Gen car there is a pattern. Other veterans have had a hard time with overstepping the boundaries as well.

Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, and others have made mistakes or gotten themselves in trouble with overly aggressive moves. The only difference is Busch doesn’t have the wins to show for it.

While Sunday was a heartbreaker, there are more opportunities. Well, only six races left, but Busch could still walk out of 2024 with a checkered flag.