HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Kyle Busch could not hide his disappointment in not winning a second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship.
Despite winning eight races and setting career highs in top five (22) and top-10 (28) finishes, Busch could not secure title number two .
“It’s all for naught,” Busch said. “We won eight races, that’s great, but forget about it now.”
Busch wrestled an ill-handling car most of the night. A stumble on pit road with an air hose cost Busch four spots in a late pit stop but some strategy got him on front by pitting later than the rest of the contenders.
However when things cycled around, Busch did not have enough to fight for the lead and the subsequent championship.
“I don’t know what happened to it,” Busch said when asked about his car’s handling issues. “I thought we were way better than that. We wouldn’t have unloaded today if we thought we were that far off.
“(Crew chief) Adam (Stevens) gave a great call for strategy there. I didn’t think it was going to work. I thought we were going to finish about 12th of 13th and the pit stop fell in our lap. I didn’t get the best of restarts, but it didn’t matter, they were gone.”
