LONG POND – Kyle Busch’s incredible streak in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is over.
Well, at least for now.
A major player in Sunday’s Windows 10 400 at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, Kyle Busch found himself in contention for his fourth consecutive Cup win, an accolade that hasn’t been achieved since 2007, but a late race gamble on fuel foiled on the last lap, handing the win to Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Matt Kenseth.
A fifth win in 2015 would have put Busch atop of the victories column and likely into sacred territory with a berth into the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
Neither were accomplished at “The Tricky Triangle,” but Busch climbed from his No. 18 M&Ms Crispy Toyota Camry with a smile on his face and even joked around with crew chief Adam Stevens, moments after a significant defeat and an agonizing 21st place finish.
“I didn’t know we were that close,” said Busch. “Normally when we’re close or that close I get harped on pretty hard to save fuel. They were just telling me to save just to not put too much pressure on the car and everything else. Man, that’s a bummer. I wish I would’ve saved a little more there that last run. I wish I would’ve known that the 22 (Joey Logano) was that far away from making it. He was way far away from making it.
“Man, that was just a shame that we weren’t able to get it done there. But, this M&M’s Crispy Camry again I can’t thank my guys enough — Adam Stevens (crew chief) and everybody. We’ve got fast race cars right now so congratulations to Matt Kenseth for winning today for Joe Gibbs Racing and everybody at home can continue the celebration although it’s not the right JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) car for the 18 it’s certainly good for the company.”
Busch admitted the team was greedy Sunday and that greed led to the decision to stay out and hope they would have enough fuel for the checkered flag. It didn’t pan out, but the Las Vegas, Nevada felt they had to take the risk.
“We would be celebrating a win and a Chase berth,” offered Busch. “We got greedy, I don’t know how greedy but that’s the position we’re in. If it came down to other things that we haven’t had the success that we’ve had here lately we would’ve had to have pitted and just made the opportunity of it and made the best finish that we could. But, we went for broke today and come up a little bit short so can’t fault the team.”
Busch’s worst finish since a 17th at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway last month still leaves him outside the top-30 in the championship standings, but now just 13 points behind David Gilliland entering next week’s final course event of the season at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
