MADISON, Ill. — For Kyle Busch, the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season hasn’t exactly been the best time for him. Entering Sunday’s (June 2) Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway, he was 14th in points with two top five and five top-10 finishes. The past two races saw him finish on the lead lap, but struggle for most of the day.
The weekend in Illinois seemed to start OK, but he was not pleased by qualifying 10th. In his post-qualifying bullpen session, he was short and curt, stating that he had no grip in his No. 8 Rebel Bourbon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, no matter what his crew did to the car.
With the complete change in weather conditions Sunday, Busch had the opposite issue. He was now very loose but tried to work with it to the best of his abilities.
Busch was in position to claim some all-important points in stage two Sunday when he ended up in a battle with Kyle Larson for seventh. The two drivers made contact on the frontstretch. Then, disaster struck in turn 1.
Busch’s car was significantly damaged after the squeeze play into the wall. While he drove it back to the pits, the day was over for the two-time Cup champion.
Meanwhile, Larson continued racing despite rear-end damage and eventually finished 10th. Busch was not happy with Larson afterward but didn’t outright attack him.
“It looked like [Larson] got loose, I guess,” Busch said outside the infield care center. “He was on older tires [and] trying to get us for a spot. Not sure what a single point was going to mean for him, but it certainly hurt us a lot.”
Busch’s comment on the single point refers back to the ongoing waiver story surrounding Larson regarding him failing to race in the Coca-Cola 600 due to rain. Busch made his opinion on that issue known in simplest terms Saturday during his bullpen session.
Given the pit strategy in play during the final stage of the race on Sunday, he had some potential for a good finish. Busch was on the same strategy as race winner Austin Cindric. He last pitted on lap 114 during the caution for Josh Berry‘s crash.
At the time of the crash, Busch was running two seconds behind Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano. Both those drivers finished in the top five Sunday, despite running very different strategies.
Busch likely would have stayed out during…
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