The Nashville race had us at the edge of our seats. Drivers battled for a win at the 1.33-mile concrete oval under the scorching sun. Initially, Joe Gibbs Racing seemed dominant, with Christopher Bell sweeping both stage wins. However, the latter part [stage 3] of the race was a nail-biter, as a slew of lead changes ending with Joey Logano dazzled the fans. But several crashes also shook up the NASCAR Cup Series points chart.

The Toyota bandwagon fell prey to these anti-climactic wrecks and cleared the way for the underwinning portion of the field. Eventually, Team Penske and Ford hailed their turnaround fortunes as Joey Logano cruised to a spectacular win. Meanwhile, some of his rivals wallowed in misery as their points shrank further.

Good runs ended in misery while Joey Logano rejoiced

The Ally 400 race at Nashville Superspeedway was dramatic, to say the least. A rain stoppage of 1 hour, 20 minutes, and five overtime restarts spiced up the results. Joey Logano only led nine of the 331 laps and saw his fortunes open up after the official 300-lap mark. Other under-performing drivers also got a sliver of shiny hope toward the end, only to have their fates dashed.

Case in point: Kyle Busch. Nashville marked the 40th race Rowdy ran without scraping the victory lane. And this one was a heartbreaker—he lingered in the top five in the latter part of the race, and Busch fans’ hearts throbbed for a glorious comeback. But on the third overtime restart on lap 320, Kyle Larson slowed and collected Busch’s RCR No. 8 in the rear, ending in his starting P27 position, while Joey Logano stormed to victory.

Bubba Wallace was a strong contender in today’s race, as he wielded the No. 23 to a P7 place. However, this was not enough for the 23XI Racing driver to secure a playoff spot. The two-time Cup Series winner stands 17th in points, just outside the playoff bubble. Chase Briscoe is below him at 18th. But what is most surprising is that 63-time Cup winner Kyle Busch lies beneath both of these drivers, 104 points below the playoff cutline.

For Joey Logano, it was the best escape from his playoff sinkhole. A multi-car crash on lap 265 of the Loudon race stripped Wallace of 13 playoff points. Kyle Busch was 14 points below him then. But now the points gap is massive. Journalist Austin Kostecki shared a concerning update on X: “If NASCAR gets one more winner below the top-16 in points, it’s officially going to be mass chaos.”

Busch is deep inside that chaotic mess. The No. 8 Richard Childress Racing team is arguably in its worst phase, given that NASCAR’s winningest driver is heading them. However, Rowdy has a good understanding of his woeful situation.

But Kyle Busch is sharply aware of his racing misery

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The No. 8 team went through several overhauls in the early part of 2024. As technical issues and slow cars affected Busch, the pit team was shuffled. Recently, the RCR team had a major update: Andy Petree retired as competition director. But now the change may have slightly impacted results: Kyle Busch ran in the top five for a major chunk of the Nashville race.

Eventually, he could not eke out a good result following an unfortunate wreck. Yet Kyle Busch may be inching toward his comeback, as he has a solid understanding.

Last week, Kyle Busch emphasized the unpredictability of the sport, and how the midpack can abruptly change. “Everybody in that spot, 12th place through 20th, can be so random each week that you’re battling for those points in positions and stage points, everything throughout the day, everything throughout the race going into every weekend.

“Like it’s just those eight to 10 guys are on top of one another and it’s hard to make point advantages because one week you might be 12th, the next you might be 22nd and the other guy was 20th and now he’s 12th. So he’s net ahead. So that’s why it’s difficult.”

This wisdom reflects a true two-time NASCAR Cup champion. We are all itching to see Rowdy go back to Victory Lane and maintain his 19-year winning streak.