COMMENTARY: Critical Week Coming For Kyle Busch

It has been a challenging 2020 season for Kyle Busch.

The defending NASCAR Cup Series champion has struggled to repeat a 2019 campaign that saw him win five times and post 27 Top-10 finishes in 36 starts. This time around, the Las Vegas native has struggled to keep pace with dominant drivers Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin, going winless in his last 29 starts – since last year’s Homestead Miami finale – with only 16 Top-10 finishes in 29 outings this season.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver finished a close second to winner Kevin Harvick Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway; a track where he has won eight times in the past. A thrilling, 60-lap duel saw Busch muscle the top spot away from Harvick with 41 laps remaining, only to relinquish the lead just 10 laps later. Busch hounded Harvick’s back bumper the rest of the way, with the pair slicing through Bristol’s typically heavy lapped traffic in a duel to the finish that had the fans – quite literally – on the edges of their seats.

Never one to celebrate a runner-up finish, Busch was typically salty after the race, blaming lapped traffic for costing him the race, despite using a lapped car as a pick to pass Harvick on Lap 469. He singled out drivers Joey Gase and Garrett Smithley for criticism, calling them "dips#it kids" for not giving way in the closing laps.

He also had harsh words for 11th-place finisher Joey Logano, blasting the Team Penske driver for racing the leaders while a lap down in the late going by saying, “He's nobody's friend for a reason."

The defending NASCAR Cup Series champion also blasted Daniel Suarez earlier in the race, after the Gaunt Brothers Racing driver momentarily blocked him in on pit road, questioning the loyalty of his fellow Toyota driver in a profanity-filled radio tirade.

No stranger to Busch’s critical crosshairs, Smithley responded angrily via Twitter Saturday night. 

“Even when I don’t do anything, @KyleBusch blames me,” he said. “Went outta my way to give him room tonight. Think he might have thought I was in a different car.”

Busch’s post-race unhappiness was no surprise. As his personal winless streak has grown, so has his level of frustration. At various times this season, Busch has pointed an accusatory finger at NASCAR for eliminating practice and qualifying during the COVID-19 pandemic, and at his own team for failing to provide him with cars capable of running up front and winning races.

When he loses, it’s someone else’s fault. When he wins – once in the Xfinity ranks and three times in the Gander Trucks this year -- the deciding factor is declared to be “KFB;” Kyle Effing Busch.

From this side of the fence, the lack of practice and qualifying does not appear to have negatively impacted the caliber of competition. And even if it has, it impacts all teams equally. It’s not like the rest of the garage is out there turning laps on Friday and Saturday while Busch remains parked in the garage. Granted, Busch is one of the best in the sport at diagnosing an ill-handling race car and prescribing a cure. But the shortcomings of his M&Ms Toyota team – if there are any – cannot be blamed entirely on COVID-19.

The pandemic has certainly not caused the 18 team to fail a troubling series of pre-race inspections this season, forcing Busch to race from the rear of the field in each of the last two weeks, while his fellow title contenders start in the front eight rows.

Busch and JGR teammates Denny Hamlin and Erik Jones all dropped to the rear of the field Saturday night after flunking multiple pre-race inspections. While Hamlin and Jones struggled to move forward at the drop of the green flag, Busch slashed his way through the pack, finishing an impressive second in the opening stage and winning the second.

Was slower traffic somehow less of an issue in the opening two stages?

Likely not.

In the final analysis, Busch got outrun in the final laps Saturday, by a driver and team that have made a habit of outrunning people this season.

Busch’s post-race outburst was not unexpected, but it is absolutely a cause for concern for his fans and supporters.

Asked for his take on the upcoming Playoff Round of 12, Busch answered, “We'll be eliminated next round.” 

Allowed to fester, that attitude could easily become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

By his own admission, Busch’s hair-trigger temper has negatively impacted the morale of his Joe Gibbs Racing team in the past. He has pledged to do better in the future, and in fairness, has kept his lip zipped more often than not this season, despite a winless skein that is uncomfortably long and worse than it looks at first glance.

All told, Busch has only one checkered flag in his last 51 NASCAR Cup Series starts, dating back to the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 7, 2019. One win every 17 months is not a recipe for championship success, and Busch knows it.

Perhaps Saturday night’s post-race spleen venting was a simple case of a professional athlete letting off steam in the immediate aftermath of a disappointing, close-but-no-cigar playoff defeat.

Perhaps Busch will circle his emotional wagons in the days to come, put Saturday’s runner-up finish in its proper context and show up at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend ready to rumble. If not, his “Sky Is Falling” outlook could easily damage a team that is ready, willing and able to hit its postseason stride, despite the pressure-cooker atmosphere of the NASCAR playoffs.

The choice is his.