Kyle Busch Proves At Pocono That He Isn’t Ready For A Title
USA Today Sports
Let’s get a couple of things clear about Kyle Busch before we go any further.
- I think Busch is one of the most talented drivers in NASCAR.
- I think Busch will make the chase, should make the chase and deserves to be in the 2015 chase.
- Despite missing 11 races I don’t really have an issue with Busch winning the championship this year.
Although I feel those things about Busch, his actions at Pocono don’t change the fact that I do not believe he is ready to win his first Sprint Cup Series championship. The fact that Busch didn’t win at Pocono doesn’t mean much as far as I am concerned. Coming into Pocono Busch had won four of the last five races and his confidence should have been at an all-time high.
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Pushing his car to the limit in an effort to win his fourth consecutive race is something that he really shouldn’t be faulted for, regardless of what the TV analysts were saying during the race. If Busch ends up missing the chase by a few points this race will be looked at as the reason why, but let’s not cross that bridge until we get there. Busch still gained 10 points of being inside of the top-30 so all-in-all it was still a good day for the No. 18 team despite running out of gas and not winning.
My issue with Busch comes with what he said after the race. During the final laps of the race the TV analysts strongly expressed their opinion that Busch needed to race for points and not the win. This opinion only became stronger as those on the same pit strategy began to struggle with fuel around Busch. The TV analysts were not the only ones vocal about Busch conserving fuel though. Numerous times during the final run Busch was warned by crew chief Adam Stevens that he needed to save some fuel. Those warnings became even stronger later in the race when Stevens told Busch to stop chasing the win and save fuel to protect his spot and finish.
Busch is his own person though and he made the choice to keep running fairly hard and it’s hard to fault him for that. That being said, if Busch is going to ignore Stevens than he needs to take ownership if things don’t go right. After the race on Sunday Busch didn’t seem to do that when he made the below comments during the NBC post-race coverage.
"I didn’t know we were that close. Normally when I’m that close, I get harped on pretty hard to save fuel. … Man, that’s a bummer. I wish I would have saved a little more there that last run. I wish I would have known that the 22 (Logano) was that far away from making it — he was way far away from making it. That’s a shame we weren’t able to get it done there.We would be celebrating a win and a Chase berth (had the fuel not run out). 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 lately, we would have had to have pitted and make the most of it and get the best finish we could. We went for broke today and came up a little bit short. You can’t fault the team."
NASCAR is without question a team sport and it goes without saying that every driver needs a solid team in order to have success. While it’s great that Busch spoke as one with his team on Sunday, it was also a shame. It was not the fault of the No. 18 team that Busch didn’t win in Pocono, it was his own fault. Busch was told numerous times to save fuel and in the latter part of the race he was flat-out told to stop chasing Logano. Busch made the choice to push the issue and as a result he came up 3/4 of a lap shy of winning the race.
For Busch to imply that the team didn’t inform him of his gas situation is laughable. I don’t think anyone would fault Busch for going for the win given the run that he has been on but to throw your team under the bus like he did is ridiculous. For a driver to win a championship he needs to be on the same page as the rest of his team. Pocono showed that the person running the No. 18 team is Busch and not Stevens. Had Busch listened to Stevens in the first place he most likely would have won the race given how short Logano was on fuel. Instead, Busch did what he wanted to do and the result was a 21st-place finish.
Busch has the skills to win a championship, he always has. Despite being one of the most talented driver in the series there has always been something missing and Pocono showed everyone what that is. It takes more than just talent to be on top and if Busch continues this he might also continue to search for his first Sprint Cup championship.
Next: Updated Chase Grid After Pocono