Has Kyle Busch Become the Punching Bag of the Grid Effectively Ending His Playoff Hopes If Nothing Changes?

It is tough to imagine that Kyle Busch, who got his name “Rowdy” for his fierceness on and off track, is now shoved and pushed by others. But now he finds himself in a precarious and unfamiliar territory. His speed has slowed, and on-track incidents have largely taken away from his race craft.

He became the punching bag for drivers on the grid not once, but twice in just a few weeks. The Richard Childress driver has yet to make it to the playoffs and even if he did–no one in the grid takes him as a threat! It’s almost eerily similar to what happened with Jimmie Johnson, the seven time champion, whose career graph dipped very suddenly in the end. Busch too seems to be headed that way, as this entire season he has been struggling. But why the struggle? Well, senior NASCAR writer Lee Spencer seems to have the answer.

Ross Chastain wanted to get rowdy, and he got it! 

Lee Spencer said in her podcast that it’s heartbreaking to watch Kyle Busch struggle. According to her: “Kyle Bush does not have a car that is equal to his talent, and it’s unfortunate because people see him as a sitting duck. They see him as easy now. In the past, they wouldn’t have tried this, I promise you. When Kyle Bush was driving the number 18 for Joe Gibbs Racing – Larson and Chastain would not have tried this with him, but now he’s an easy mark.”

Between Kyle Busch of last year and Kyle Busch of this year, there is a tremendous difference. At the halfway mark last year he had three wins and this year the result has been more than disappointing. And of course, the crashes from the past few weeks have taken a toll on him. In Gateway, Larson lost control of his car, causing a violent collision with the side of Busch’s Chevrolet, sending him crashing into the unforgiving outside wall. Then he crashed during a Goodyear’s tire test and if that wasn’t sad enough, he met a similar fate in Sonoma. 

Everything looked good for the #8 at the Wine Country track, and he was contending to finish in the top-5. But that was until Ross Chastain took matters into his own hands! They were competing for the fifth position when the ‘Melon man’ made contact with his car which led to him spinning. The aftermath saw Busch finishing P12 while the Trackhouse Racing star made it to P5.

And before that, we all know what went down between the RCR driver and Ricky Stenhouse Jr during and after the NASCAR All-Star race. And who can forget how Ty Gibbs was asked to be cautious in that same race? So, there’s something going on with the two-time Cup champion. 

It’s almost unbelievable that a driver who has dominated the asphalt as long as he did is now not being looked at as a threat by others on the grid. Moreover, he was just about to have a good day in Sonoma and that, too, was snatched away from him, which according to Spencer, must have been a tough pill to swallow. But it’s not only her that feels sorry for the two-time champion. His rival from the past feels for him, too!

Kevin Harvick feels deep sympathy for Kyle Busch

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The RCR driver’s plight has reached such a low point that Kevin Harvick, who once fiercely competed against him, has noticed the downward graph. Rowdy is now on a 37-race winless streak, that’s the longest run of his career as of yet.

Kevin Harvick addressed how terrible he feels for Kyle Busch. On his podcast, Harvick’s Happy Hour, he said, “I am starting to feel sorry for Kyle Busch because of everything that’s happening so…he wrecked last week with Kyle Larson at St Louis. Went to Indy for a tire test, crashed. Heard some rumblings that he crashed his rental car and I think we got there, he ran off the track in practice, then he ran off the track at the beginning of the race.” 

Indeed Busch has been having a crappy time. And the backlash he has been facing on the internet because of his constant crashes is brutal. But according to Harvick, Busch is just trying to juice out whatever he can with the car he has. He wants to be the winner and it’s the pursuit of this that he has been making these rash errors. After the Sonoma race Kyle Busch’s disappointment actually mirrored in his face. And he just said, “It’s frustrating to not get the finish that we deserved.”

However, there have been others with even longer winless streaks and they made it back. And so can he. Recently he was out celebrating his son’s recent victory on track. And that’s the only time fans saw him grinning and smiling ear to ear. Fans hope that he can take that as a motivation and move forward.

What do you think about Kyle Busch and his turmoil? Do you feel he regrets changing teams? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.