Kurt Busch, one of the surprises in this year’s NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs likely finds his Chip Ganassi Racing team in a must-win position to advance to the Championship 4 next month at Phoenix (Ariz.) Raceway after suffering engine failure during Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.
Busch had started the semi-final round of the Cup Series Playoffs third and contended early on in the race but during the competition caution, Busch sped on pit road and was forced to start the race from the rear of the field.
The Las Vegas, Nev. native was able to climb back to 19th at the end of Stage 1 – missing out on crucial stage points to help their chances to propel Busch towards a NASCAR Cup Series championship.
Stage 2 was much better for the No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE and while be battled the handling of his racecar in the latter laps of Stage 2, he did pick up two stage points with a ninth-place finish.
Unfortunately for Busch, his Stage 2 result would be the highlight of his day as Busch radioed his team around Lap 193 that he began losing power.
Remaining on the track and trying to diagnose the power issues, the engine grenaded on Lap 197 and sent the team and out of the race.
Busch will be credited with a 38th place finish, his worst result in the Playoffs this season.
Heading to Texas Motor Speedway next weekend, Busch, 41, is eighth in the championship standings, 73 points behind the cutoff spot.
“Yeah, usually there’s no warning. Everything is so buttoned-up these days in the engine department. I haven’t seen an engine problem in years,” said Busch. “No fault of anybody at Hendrick engines. We’re running hard here. We were running top-five and there’s a ton of RPM down the front-straightaway with the tailwind.
“We were right in the mix. We were doing the deal. I just couldn’t quite clear some guys to get into that top-three or four and then our car would come back to us on the long run after about lap 30.”
A huge deficit to make up over the final two races in the Round of 8, Busch knows that his ticket to a spot in the Championship 4 is a win over the next two races at Texas Motor Speedway and Martinsville (Va.) Speedway and he is ready to get to work.
“It’s a shame for everybody at Chip Ganassi Racing. Having an engine failure in the Playoffs – it’s just like a huge parachute that slows you up,” added Busch.
“We’ll pack that parachute up, throw it away and we’ll go to Texas to win. We knew we were going to have to win either here or Texas. Martinsville we have a shot at it, too. The odds are stacked against us, but hey, we’re in the top-eight for a reason. I have a great crew chief, Matt McCall, and we’ll bounce back.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
