NASCAR: Kyle Busch supported 'insurance policy' before 'premiums' remark

Before saying it’s pathetic to lean on insurance so his premiums won’t go up, 2015 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch called the current playoff point structure the “most fair structure that we’ve had through the playoff era”.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch left Las Vegas Motor Speedway this past Sunday following the South Point 400, the first of 10 races in the four-round 2019 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, more frustrated than anybody.

After hitting the wall early, his chance to win appeared to go out the window, as he fell two laps off the lead lap. But as the laps wound down in this 267-lap race around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Las Vegas Motor Speedway oval in Las Vegas, Nevada, the 34-year-old Las Vegas native found himself back on the lead lap with a great chance at recording a top five finish.

Then he ran into the back of the #52 Rick Ware Racing Ford driven by Garrett Smithley. Smithley was running 12 laps of the lead lap, and the damage sustained by Busch’s #18 Toyota was significant enough to drop him to 19th place and one lap off the lead lap by the time the checkered flag flew.

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Busch entered the playoffs atop the championship standings, as he had a series-high 45 playoff points applied to his point total before the round of 16 began. He secured a series-high 30 playoff points by winning a series-high four races and a series-high 10 stages throughout the regular season, and he scored an additional series-high 15 playoff points by winning the regular season championship.

As a result, even after his 19th place finish in the South Point 400, Busch still sits in fourth in the championships standings, and he sits 36 points above the round of 12 cut line, still very much well-positioned to advance to the round of 12 even if he records another poor result in the final two round of 16 races.

But he was clearly frustrated after this race, and he was interviewed by NBC Sports Network’s Parker Kligerman moments after getting out of his car. When Kligerman asked him whether or not having this cushion was something that he could lean on following this disappointing result, Busch fired back.

“It’s pathetic to have to lean on insurance. My premiums are going to go up.”

But before this race was contested, Busch sang somewhat of a different tune about “insurance”.

He was all for the current “insurance policy” offered by NASCAR by way of playoff points. In fact, he referred to it as the “most fair structure” of the playoff era, an era that began back in the 2004 season.

“It’s kind of an insurance policy,’’ Busch stated. “We all pay for insurance to hopefully never have to use it, but it’s there just in case. For us, we’ve done a great job of being able to build those points up throughout the regular season and it’s nice to be able to have that point structure in place to kind of give you the opportunity to have your early season success help you through the postseason. I think it’s the most fair structure that we’ve had through the playoff era.’’

So while it may be “pathetic” to have to lean on it, it doesn’t look like that will stop Busch from being willing to ride it all the way to Homestead-Miami Speedway for the Championship 4 if he ends up needing to. After all, he hasn’t won a race in more than three and a half months.

And let’s be honest — there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.

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Will Kyle Busch need to rely on this “insurance policy” to advance to the round of 12, or will he bounce back from his disappointing result in the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series playoff opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway? The next race on the playoff schedule is this Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400, a race Busch won last year. This race is set to be broadcast live from Richmond Raceway in Richmond, Virginia on NBC Sports Network beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET.

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NASCAR: Kyle Busch supported ‘insurance policy’ before ‘premiums’ remark

By Asher Fair | Sep 19, 2019

Before saying it’s pathetic to lean on insurance so his premiums won’t go up, 2015 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch called the current playoff point structure the “most fair structure that we’ve had through the playoff era”.