The top 16 spots are booked, and as the playoffs begin, Kyle Larson is leading the pack. Tyler Reddick made it as the regular season champion, and we have some unexpected entries in the playoffs, like Harrison Burton. Now that the first race under the playoffs is done, what about the drivers who almost made the cut but fell short by a little?

Kyle Busch is one of those drivers who was consistent over the season, but with some hiccups here and there, he did not make the cut for the first time in 12 years. Although he was extremely close to winning at both the Coke Zero Sugar 400 and the Cook Out Southern 500, he missed the mark by just one position. With Busch not qualifying, the fans are curious to know what exactly happened with him.

The playoff rules state that winning a race puts a driver into the playoffs by default. The format does not take into account their previous standing during the regular season. This is how Harrison Burton managed to find a spot in the playoffs while taking away Busch’s chance at the championship.

When Kyle Busch was asked in Atlanta about the reason behind him not making it, the Richard Childress Racing driver replied, “Just didn’t execute well enough and have the pace that we needed through the summer. We crashed a lot, and so, you know, that just kind of self-eliminated us.”

Bob Pockrass was on the other side of the mic, and he got curious and asked the RCR driver if the team had experimented through the season. To this, Busch replied, “I think we did enough experimenting throughout the year on things that didn’t work. So it seems like we’ve kind of gotten a little bit of a path towards what we think does work.”

Pockrass further prompted a question stating that Busch had a great run toward the last few races and asked the driver if he felt like he would make it into the playoffs in the last 2 races. Kyle Busch was definitely looking for the win at Daytona, all the more when he realized he was a frontrunner.

The No. 8 Chevrolet driver then replied, “I thought that when we missed all the wrecks at Daytona and I wasn’t involved in one of them and we were still clean, I was like, ‘Wow, if I don’t get this, man, then life’s really not on my side.'”

So what did Kyle Busch have to say about the Daytona race?

Rowdy was in the lead of the Daytona race during the last lap; however, while he was prepared to win, Harrison Burton managed to outpace him on the final turns of the lap. This was done, courtesy of Parker Retzlaff, who ended up pushing Burton’s car ahead of Busch’s.

Ultimately, Burton was awarded the win and the spot in the playoffs, while Busch had to give up the win. In the end, things did not work out according to Busch, as he explained, “So ultimately, it didn’t happen, but, you know, that is what it is.”

Although Busch did not win the Cook Out Southern 500, he was “actually pleasantly surprised and happy with the result at Darlington.” He was happy with how the team performed, and ultimately he was happy with the P2 finish.

However, Kyle Busch revealed, “I really did think that our shot was going to be Daytona—we just didn’t execute well enough and didn’t have the pace that we needed.”