Kyle Busch is a man who does not take kindly to his crew members messing up a pit stop and costing him a chance to win a race or at least finish high up the order. And a poor pit stop by Richard Childress Racing is exactly what ruined Rowdy’s day in Las Vegas. However, after the race came to an end, the former Cup Series champion praised his team’s efforts, which is something that not a lot of people might have expected.
Rowdy was having a fantastic day running in the top five, for the most part. Had things not gone wrong, perhaps fans would have had another 3-car race to the finish line for the win. However, it was not meant to be. It has been a while since fans have seen the driver of the #8 car on victory lane, and it might be a while before Rowdy breaks his unfortunate streak of no wins.
The blame lies equally with both Kyle Busch and his team
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The incident occurred in the final stage of the event when Kyle Busch came in for a pit stop. After the stop was done and Rowdy was on the track, NASCAR issued a pass-through penalty for stopping out of his pit box. It turns out that the splitter was over the line of his pit box and it caused him to go a lap down. Now, at first glance, one would think that it was Rowdy’s fault for not stopping at the right place. But his crew also had a part to play.
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All Busch needed to do was back up a bit before the crew members could start to work on the #8 RCR car. However, they never informed Rowdy of such a thing. Why? They probably didn’t see it either. Now human error is understandable, but to mess up on something like this at such a high level of motorsport has got to sting. However, Rowdy did not express any negative feelings towards his crew, at least not in public.
Taking to X after the race, the driver of the #8 tweeted, “We had a faster @BetMGM – @TeamChevy🎱 today than the results showed. Proud of this team for bringing fast cars every week. We’ll get after it next week.”
We had a faster @BetMGM – @TeamChevy 🎱 today than the results showed. Proud of this team for bringing fast cars every week. We’ll get after it next week. pic.twitter.com/SK7g0sNwFd
— Kyle Busch (@KyleBusch) March 4, 2024
It must have been beyond frustrating for the driver of the #8 Richard Childress Racing car, especially since he was one of the three drivers in the photo finish in Atlanta. After all, Kyle Busch has always felt like he had something to prove in Vegas. It is his home race, after all.
Winning in Vegas would have been a massive relief for Kyle Busch
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Since 2021, the Richard Childress Racing star has taken part in 7 Cup Series races at the track so far, but with no joy. He has a decent average finish, and he usually does run well at the track, but Kyle Busch simply cannot find a win at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It must have been incredibly frustrating when NASCAR levied the pass-through penalty, which made him go a lap down from running at the front all day.
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.@NASCARONFOX's @mikejoy500 explains the penalty issued to @KyleBusch. https://t.co/yMDbBLp0Qf pic.twitter.com/Rn0UBfo2hU
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) March 3, 2024
Rowdy had expressed his frustrations with not winning his home race in well over a decade now. “It’s been, oh, so close, but no trophy. So that’s really frustrating. Of course, being my hometown, it means a lot to be able to run well and have a good finish there. I’m kind of tired of the third place,” he had said before the race.
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Kyle Busch will have redemption on his mind now, going into the fourth Cup Series race of the season in Phoenix. Will Rowdy finally be able to finish on Victory Lane next Sunday?
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