NASCAR insiders credit Kyle Busch for racing Chase Briscoe clean in intense Darlington finish
Kyle Busch said after the finish to the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona that he did everything he could to pass Harrison Burton on the final lap “besides just flat-out wrecking him.”
Fast forward eight days later to Sunday’s Southern 500 at Daytona and Busch found himself in a similar position. As was the case at Daytona, Busch raced Chase Briscoe clean in the closing laps at Darlington. And as was the case at Daytona, Busch finished as the runner-up at Darlington, missing out on the playoffs for the first time since 2012.
While not the result he wanted or frankly needed, Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic was pleased to see that Busch “didn’t do anything silly” as opposed to his Richard Childress Teammate Austin Dillon intentionally wrecking Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin on the final lap at Richmond to take the checkered flag.
“Credit to Kyle, Kyle didn’t do anything silly,” Bianchi said on “The Teardown” podcast. “This wasn’t a repeat of the Austin Dillon thing. He raced Briscoe straight up and they both raced hard, and it was great to see.”
Now, there was a major difference between Daytona and Darlington for Busch, as he never quite got close enough to Briscoe’s bumper to make it interesting. If he had, Jeff Gluck of The Athletic believes we may have seen some contact between Busch and Briscoe.
“I think had Kyle Busch gotten a little bit closer at the very end there, maybe he tries to put the bumper to him or something,” Gluck said. “I’m not saying he would have wrecked him, but there might have been some contact if it had been close.”
Kyle Busch reacts to another close miss at Darlington
Busch was asked after the race how important it was to race Briscoe clean. In his eyes, it’s “irrelevant,” as he never truly got close enough to make any potential moves.
“I didn’t even get close enough to have an opportunity, so it’s irrelevant,” Busch said.
Busch came up just short at Darlington, however, it was another encouraging result in a season which has been perhaps his toughest in the Cup Series. He heads into the final 10 races of the season riding a three-race top-five streak, something he hopes to build on.
“This Morgan & Morgan Chevrolet, they turned it around these last four, five weeks and we’ve run a lot better. That’s been much improved, beneficial to our team and the organization,” Busch said. “Something to build on and get better for. We just missed a lot in the early part of the year. Through the middle part of the year, to put ourselves in this spot, to 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 towards the end. And got a really good finish for what we had or what I thought we had. We’ll take that and keep building on it.”