“I Hate It” – Kyle Busch Disappointed With the Photo Finish After an Exhilarating Finale at Atlanta

Just when we thought this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway couldn’t possibly outrank the Daytona 500 in terms of wild cards, Daniel Suarez, Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney delivered a photo finish that will be the topic of most NASCAR group chats for days to come. While the Trackhouse Racing rising star couldn’t be happier, Kyle Busch isn’t as delighted, feeling he got the short end of the stick instead at the Ambetter Health 400.

Kyle Busch strongly believed he won at Atlanta

While many promising contenders like Denny Hamlin, Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski got dealt a tough hand during the Ambetter Health 400, there were an equal number of success stories that left the NASCAR community in awe. Speaking of Hamlin’s woes, his incident with Kyle Busch could have ended things for the RCR star as well, but it seems like luck had other plans.

Kyle Busch made his way back to the front after surviving earlier incidents in a wreck-filled event to line up for a drag race with Daniel Suarez and Ryan Blaney. As the action unfolded on the final lap, Blaney took the bottom line while Suarez remained on top. This left Kyle Busch sandwiched right in the middle, hoping it would work out for the best. And in a way, it had worked out for the best, just for all three drivers instead.

That’s right, the gap separating Busch, Blaney and Suarez was down to 0.007 seconds, with Suarez edging Blaney for the win by 0.003 seconds. For context, the speed at which a human eye blinks is 0.100 seconds, meaning no driver would have even had the time to figure out who had won. But when Kyle Busch eventually did find out, the Richard Childress Racing driver was left rather unsatisfied.

Yeah, it’s frustrating. I mean, I hate it because I felt like you know, we were one of the top five cars today and had a good shot. The #12 was fast, I mean deservedly they were one of the faster cars with all the carnage obviously that happened that took out some other guys early. Reflecting on the entire ordeal, Busch felt he and Blaney were caught off guard by Daniel Suarez’s pace around the top.

Busch shared with Peter Stratta, “I got a little too far ahead of the #99  (Suarez). He got a good side draft through the corner. I didn’t think the outside would prevail, but with the rundown on the front stretch and the side draft, that’s what hurt us. But I was looking at the #12 (Blaney). I swore I was ahead of the #12  at the line but obviously, my eyes are bad, need more powerful glasses I guess.”

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While it’s safe to say Kyle Busch certainly wasn’t all too pleased with the historic result, Ryan Blaney, on the other hand, felt it was all fair in the Cup Series.

Ryan Blaney sidelines Busch’s critique to congratulate Suarez on ‘cool finish’

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Kyle Busch would have indeed edged out Daniel Suarez based on pure pace in a different circumstance, but the same would not have been the case for Ryan Blaney. The #12 Penske Mustang, even according to Busch, looked like one of the prime contenders for the win. But in the end, Chevy once again snubbed its American rival to the win after Ford showcased similar qualifying strength at Atlanta as they did at Daytona.

Even with such a loss for Ford and Blaney, the reigning champion maintained a classy composure in his post-race interview. Speaking to Jennifer Little from FOX Atlanta, Blaney shared his thoughts on the intense finish and his game plan. While Blaney had made a move a few laps earlier to block the chances of a triple run of such nature, he just couldn’t do so in the last lap.

He stated, “They just got both lanes shoving super hard and I just chose the bottom and (it’s the) safest place to be so, what a cool finish. Appreciate the fans for sticking around, that’s a lot of fun and that’s always a good time we can do that, you know, race clean, finish three wide into the end. Happy for Daniel, it was cool to see and fun racing with Kyle. Yeah, I can’t complain. I’ve won them by very little too. So I can’t complain too much when I lose them by that much.”

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With that said, we couldn’t have asked for a better end to an action-packed weekend in Atlanta.