Did Kyle Busch Contribute To His Own Team’s Demise?

Kyle Busch’s defense of the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series championship is over.

It ended with a whimper rather than a bang Sunday, with his Joe Gibbs Racing M&Ms Toyota sputtering out of fuel with three laps remaining in the Bank of America ROVAL 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Busch collided with fellow playoff contender Clint Bowyer and cut a tire near the end of Sunday’s second stage, forcing crew chief Adam Stevens to play a “Hail Mary” strategy card, leaving Busch on the racetrack when the balance of the field pitted. It earned Busch a few encouraging laps at the head of the field, but his team’s prayers for either a race-ending monsoon or a lengthy caution ultimately went unanswered.

Essentially helpless on old rubber, Busch faded to the tail end of the Top-5 – when only a win would do – then ran out of fuel with three laps remaining, eventually finishing 30^th.

“It’s just been a year (where) nothing has played out or been on our side,” said Busch, who saw a streak of six consecutive Championship Four appearances snapped. “It’s just been unfortunate circumstances and a lot of bad luck. The guys on this M&Ms team never give up and they fight all year long, every race, every lap, every pit stop. But man, this is just one of those off-years, a terrible year for me.”

Scratched from the list of 2020 title contenders, Busch will now spend the final four races of the season trying to snap a 32-race winless streak – the longest of his career – and a lengthier competitive drought that has seen him visit Victory Lane just once in his last 54 Cup Series starts.

Perhaps he will approach those races with a positive, “How can I help?” attitude.

Perhaps not.

Past history indicates that it could go either way.

Three weeks ago, after a strong runner-up finish at Bristol Motor Speedway qualified him for the Playoff Round of 12, Busch was asked if his team could contend with the speed and performance displayed this season by Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin.

“No” said Busch bluntly. “We’ll be eliminated in the next round, so I don’t care”

It was a shocking statement, one that quickly drew the ire of Joe Gibbs Racing Competition Director Jimmy Makar and others within the JGR hierarchy. Makar called Busch’s comments “disappointing, but not surprising,” and while the two-time series champion eventually backpedaled, saying, “You know me, I say stupid (things sometimes).”

The damage, however, had already been done.

Busch’s doomsday prediction became a self-fulfilling prophecy, after a sixth-place showing in Las Vegas was followed by a 27^th at Talladega and Sunday’s 30^th-place showing on the ROVAL.

Through it all, Busch continued to downplay his team’s chances, repeating his “We’ll be eliminated” prediction on multiple occasions. After cutting a tire at the end of Sunday’s second stage, Busch once again seemed to run-up the white flag of defeat, saying “Good job this year, guys” on his in-car radio.

That message – and those that preceded it -- will not easily be forgotten, nor undone.

It was the auto racing equivalent of Tom Brady conceding defeat to the Atlanta Falcons after trailing 28-3 in the third quarter of Super Bowl LI.

It was Michael Jordan walking off the court with 2:00 remaining and the Bulls down by 10, or Kirk Gibson saying he was too hurt to pinch hit with two outs in the bottom of the ninth in Game One of the 1988 World Series.

As Yogi Berra so famously said, “It ain’t over until it’s over.”

While Busch’s chances were admittedly slim in Sunday’s final stage, a severe thunderstorm with more than enough wallop to pause (or even end) the race was churning straight at Charlotte Motor Speedway, just as Stevens’ desperation ploy played out in the final laps.

When things go badly – in sports or in life – adversity often provides a critical opportunity for self-examination. If we’re willing to take a long, self-deprecating look in the mirror, we often discover “bad luck” taking the blame when bad decision making, poor execution and a negative outlook are truly at fault.

Within minutes of Busch’s elimination – and for the three weeks that preceded it – rumors circulated about possible changes to Busch’s team during the offseason. After a losing campaign, football teams generally retain the high-dollar quarterback at the expense of the head coach, leaving Stevens as the most likely scapegoat for his team’s 2020 shortcomings.

But it’s also fair to ask whether Busch did everything he could do this season – both on and off the racetrack – to mitigate his team’s struggles.

Was he a leader, lifting his team’s morale in troubled times and displaying the “never say die” attitude that separates winners from loser in sports, business and life? Or did he drag his Cup Series team down with predictions of continued hardship and failure, while attributing his four Xfinity and Truck Series wins to “KFB;” Kyle Effing Busch.

Busch is correct in saying that most drivers would happily trade seasons with him and his No.18 JGR Toyota team. But most drivers are not Kyle Busch; a generational talent who has more skill in his left pinky finger than most drivers have in their entire bodies.

The gap between NASCAR champion and playoff also-ran is slimmer than ever these days, and if Busch’s legendary hair-trigger temper and careless comments played even a tiny role in his team’s 2020 downfall, it is a topic that needs to be addressed.

COMMENTARY: NASCAR's "Yellow Line Rule" Is Imperfect, But What's The Option?

NASCAR finds itself on the hot seat today, in the aftermath of a race at Talladega Superspeedway that featured 13 caution flags – three of them red – and required Triple Overtime to complete. 

Wild even by Talladega standards, yesterday’s race saw a number of penalties assessed for either racing below the double-yellow line at the bottom of the speedway, or forcing another driver to do so. 

The most controversial penalty was assessed to driver Matt DiBenedetto, who swerved down the track while leading in the final turn, in an attempt to block challenger William Byron. Contact was made, with NASCAR ruling that Byron was forced below the double-yellow line. Eventual winner Denny Hamlin also drove below the line in an apparent attempt to avoid Byron. 

NASCAR issued an immediate penalty to DiBenedetto, moving him from second place to 21^st (tail end of the lead lap) for violation the provision of the NASCAR rule book that states, “Race above the double-yellow line. If – in NASCAR’s judgement -- you go below the double-yellow line to improve your position, you will be black flagged. If – in NASCAR’s judgement – you force someone below the double yellow line in an effort to stop them from passing you, you may be black flagged.” 

A crestfallen DiBenedetto admitted driving aggressively on the final lap saying, “I was blocking everyone’s lane. That was pure desperation, but that’s how I drive every race.” 

Hamlin supported the decision, saying, “Finally NASCAR put their foot down. You can’t use the yellow line as a defense. You have to play within the boundaries that they set.” 

Chase Elliott was also penalized for going below the line on the final lap. His Hendrick Motorsports team filed a formal protest, and Elliott was reinstated after a NASCAR video review indicated that Chris Buescher had forced him out of bounds. 

Elliott ended up fifth, with Buescher demoted from sixth to 22nd. 

NASCAR’s post-race penalties drew the ire of many observers, with calls for the so-called “Yellow Line Rule” to be modified or abolished outright. 

There is no doubt that the “Yellow Line” rule is subjective. Subjectivity and judgement calls are a regular (and sometimes unpopular) part of sports officiating. Unfortunately, there are very few black-and-white calls in sports, or in NASCAR. No two incidents are exactly alike, making “one size fits all rules” difficult to write and even more difficult to apply. 

Disliking the current rule is one thing, coming up with a better alternative is something else altogether.

 In situations like those that presented themselves yesterday at Talladega, opinions are sometimes formed based on who we like and who we root for. Chase Elliott and Matt DiBenedetto are two of the most popular drivers in NASCAR, and lots of people were understandably rooting for them to win yesterday. That desire – while the basis of fandom – sometimes clouds our perception of what actually happens on the racetrack, and how it should be dealt with. 

NASCAR obviously cannot rule on popularity. They need to interpret their rules as evenly and unemotionally as possible, attempting to go “by the book” in every instance, even when the situation is not as black-and-white as we might like. 

Calls for the abolition of the “Yellow Line Rule” are worthy of discussion, but before agreeing to do away with any rule, we need to decide what to do instead. 

Legalizing an Oklahoma Land Rush of drivers racing six-wide onto the apron at 195 mph does not seem like a prudent option. While some drivers insist that they can be trusted to do the right thing on the final lap of a critical playoff race -- conducting themselves in a manner that  endangers neither themselves nor others -- their ability to follow through on that pledge remains in doubt. 

A few years ago, NASCAR announced that it would no longer enforce the proper installation of lugs nuts, leaving it up to the teams to ensure the safety of their drivers. Almost immediately, drivers begged the sanctioning body to get back into the lug nut business, admitting that the lure of omitting a lug nut or two in an effort to be first off pit road on a late-race pitstop was too much for them to resist. 

If we can’t trust drivers and teams to tighten five lug nuts on the last pit stop, what makes you think we can trust them to exercise discretion and race safely on the final lap? 

Sometimes, we need a higher authority to make sure things are done safely and correctly. And until someone can come up with a new edict that eliminates the subjectivity of NASCAR’s “Yellow Line Rule,” the present system will almost certainly remain in place. 

Let the discussion begin.