If only. That’s what Kurt Busch had in mind right after the end of the long race at Nashville. The 23XI Racing driver finished an impressive P2, but it could’ve been better, if not for one thing.

That one thing was his willingness to race hard the eventual race winner, Chase Elliott.

Busch admitted in a post-race interview that he went “soft” on the Hendrick Motorsports driver. “I should have been throwing some fenders and moving some momentum around. I didn’t stick with our strength,” he described.

The veteran driver was so caught up in what he could’ve done differently that he confessed he is still “zoned in” on the restart.

“I just wanted to throw some fenders and I didn’t get the job done. So I’m happy with second but my guys, everybody’s smiling but I let them down. I should’ve come up with a better plan,” Busch added.

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Bubba Wallace reveals the advice from mentor and teammate Kurt Busch

In a recent interview, Bubba Wallace, who has had a season full of bad results pertaining mostly to bad luck and things out of his hands, revealed the advice his teammate, Kurt Busch, gave him.

“Kurt Busch told me that after I junked him at Darlington last year, he said, “Every stage is a reset. Carrying over something from the first stage to the third stage, you’re just hurting yourself and your team, so understand that and enjoy the moment that you’re in,'” Wallace said.

Busch himself admitted that he embraced the role of a mentor-teammate for Wallace, who has mostly been on his own in his NASCAR career. But in order for this to work, Busch feels, Wallace needs to admit his weaknesses, and he, his.

 “I mean, I’m not the oracle or anything, but I feel like I can help him. And I know I can learn things from him because that’s how I think I’ve stayed relevant for 22 years is continuing to learn and being adaptive to the situations,” he added.

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