As the popular saying goes, “Good things come to those who wait,” but not for Kyle Busch. The 2x Cup Series champion has been patiently waiting and with bated breath since 2005 to seize the ultimate crown. However, the Harley J Earl Trophy has remained elusive to Busch to date. The closest the driver has ever come to seizing the Daytona 500 victory was in 2023, but a last lap wreck crushed his long-awaited dreams of parking his car in the victory lane of the Daytona 500. Although the #8 Richard Childress Racing driver still harbors a lurching bitterness of missing out on the Daytona 500 trophy, he does not shy away from giving due credits and honors where needed.

Owing to this, in his candid conversation with Kevin Harvick, Busch revealed the pivotal role that Richard Childress’ grandson and Busch’s teammate Austin Dillon played and ordained him his greatest respects and title. 

Kyle Busch credits teammate Austin Dillon who was “a wingman”

Kyle Busch in his 20 attempts has not once been able to lift the career-defining trophy. While the 2024 season-opener race was an utter mishap due to the pit crew problems, the biggest regret when it came to missing the Daytona 500 victory by an inch was in the last season and in the final laps of the race.

The #8 Chevrolet received the impetus from his teammate and the former Daytona 500 victor Austin Dillon in the first overtime and started out first in the pack. However, a last-lap crash after being separated from Dillon crushed his hope of filling the biggest hole in his resume. Nevertheless, Busch was more than grateful to have a teammate like Autin Dillon provide the necessary push to him when needed in the race. His gratitude was evident, when he expressed to Kevin Harvick, “You go into these pre-race meetings and you hear about helping each other and taking care of each other and trying to leave a gap and let the guy in if he is hung out to dry or whatever.”

“All these stuffs but when it comes down to the end, like the question at JGR was – ‘Okay, when are we allowed to race it out, and was it 10 to go or five to go, was it on the final restart?’ Well, how do you know when the final restart is, so there was just so many unknowns or misconceptions of the rule that we had there. But last year I give credits where credits were due with Austin.”

Busch also added, “He was a wingman the whole way through. Through and through he was going to be a wingman, so he was doing everything and anything possible to make sure that #8 car was out front, leading the race and we were in a prime position to to be able to win that thing and finish one-two. Just the caution came out just didn’t happen, I think we were 200 yards from the start-finish line and taking the white flag and just didn’t happen.”

While Kyle Busch came agonizingly close last year, the 2024 Daytona 500 was nothing less than a disaster for the 2xCup Series champion, that relegated the driver to finish 12th in the race.

Kyle Busch gets a new jackman after Daytona 500 woes

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Busch had displayed immense speed in the race, but the ensuing pit-road problems axed the driver’s dream of notching his first victory in the Great American Race. The problems began as early as Lap 67 when the team was slapped with a penalty for having too many men over the wall violating the safety rule of NASCAR. As a result, Kyle Busch had to restart from the back of the pack.

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The second disaster occurred in Lap 133 of the race when the front-tire changer failed to tighten the lug nut on the left front. Due to this, the driver had to re-enter the pit road to get the wheel tightened. As a result, it was announced that Kyle Busch would have a new jackman in the Atlanta race. 

Regardless of his woes at this season’s Daytona 500, Kyle Busch still has the opportunity to alter his fate in the upcoming races, especially in Atlanta, where he could defeat his arch-nemesis and defending winner Joey Logano.