Kyle Busch blames his ‘sloppiness’ for playoff exit at ROVAL

It was Kyle Busch’s fourth elimination from R-8 in his career.

Kyle Busch blames his ‘sloppiness’ for playoff exit at ROVAL

Kyle Busch (Via IMAGO)

Two-time NASCAR Cup series champion Kyle Busch produced a solid performance in the must-win race at ROVAL to secure a spot in the post-season Round of 8. Busch entered the race 26 points off the cut-off line and, despite the all-out effort for the win, could score just a P3 finish that yielded 28 points.

Busch found himself in a disappointing situation following two back-to-back finishes outside the top 20 in R-12. He suffered a DNF at Texas Motor Speedway and failed to meet expectations in the Superspeedway challenge at Talladega, scoring just P24. If not for the impressive racing from AJ Allmendinger in the final laps.

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Busch, after finishing P3 behind the Kaulig car and Ty Gibbs, pointed out that he didn’t do a very good job and was sloppy sometimes. He added that figuring out the car balance has been a struggle for him. He added that if he hadn’t had the better track position in the final laps, the finish would’ve been much worse.

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 “A lot of it rides with me just getting sloppy, not doing a very good job, and I’m not making excuses but trying to figure this car [out]. I just lose the balance of it; I did again today. I was able to get a third out of it but probably would have been worse off than that if it wasn’t for the track position,” Busch said, as reported by RACER.

In case you missed it: Bubba Wallace bemoans playoff elimination, admits he should’ve done better at ROVAL ‘while racing around there with squirrels’

Kyle Busch says the elimination was a bittersweet moment

The 2009 Xfinity series champion pointed out that elimination was bittersweet, and he hates the results. He said that the No:8 team executed on Sunday and was able to secure the win they were capable of securing. Busch admitted that if not for the disappointing results from Texas and Dega, he would still be fighting for the championship.

Kyle Busch (Via IMAGO)
Kyle Busch (Via IMAGO)

“It’s bittersweet. I hate it. It rides on me. We came out there, we executed, we did the job that we knew we were capable of doing here, getting a third, and had a shot to win. The Camaro was fast, the guys gave me a great piece, but unfortunately, just Texas and Talladega and not doing a…good job there and not scoring any points obviously killed us,” Busch said.

Busch said that if he gets a chance to redo the R-12 run, he will be in the R-8. He said, “Give those two to do over again, and we’re in the Round of 8.” Busch now has to work with his team and continue to fight for the wins while also working on fielding an updated Camaro ZL1 for the 2024 season.

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