After over a season without a win, Kyle Busch appeared primed for his first in 46 races at the 2024 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona. And on the final restart, he looked certain to be the last lead change of the race, moments away from finally claiming that coveted playoff berth and shutting up all his doubters. 

A few left turns away from his first win in 2024, Busch probably would have done all that. If not for first-time race winner Harrison Burton surging past on the outside line, thanks to some bump draft action by 21-YO Parker Retzlaff of MBM Motorsports. But it must sting Rowdy, knowing behind him, a former Kyle Busch Motorsports alum and JGR teammate, Christopher Bell could not do the same to help his #8 make the winning move at the end of a tense green-white-checkered sequence. And it looks like Bell isn’t too happy about how it all went down either.

Christopher Bell’s missed push cost Kyle Busch a Daytona win

As NASCAR returned to its spiritual home–the Daytona International Speedway, so did the unpredictable brand of racing that is characteristic of its 2.5-mile superspeedway layout. There were 40 lead changes across 264 circuits around the track, and 7 cautions for 34 laps. Out of 40 entrants, only 24 made it to the finish line at the end of Lap 410. The race featured two big ones that took out drivers like Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, and pole-winner Michael McDowell, among others.

Starting his race 11th, Kyle Busch avoided all that fracas (contrary to his bad luck this year) and placed himself ahead of everyone else on the inside line during the final restart. That was after Josh Berry violently went airborne to bring out the seventh caution and sent the race into overtime. As the race waved for green, the #8 car shot past Harrison Burton on the outside, thanks to some momentum on the bumper through a push by the #20 starting behind him. But off Turn 2 on the last lap, Retzlaff, and Burton attempted to move past Busch in tandem. Although Retzlaff was unsuccessful in his attempts, Burton took the lead from Rowdy, moving in front of the #8 to throw a couple of blocks as it attempted to make a last-ditch pass, ultimately securing Wood Brothers Racing’s 100th win in NASCAR.

Parker Retzflaff turned into Harrison Burton’s hero at night’s end. But that could’ve been Christopher Bell, had his #20 Camry XSE found enough power to bump Kyle Busch to a guaranteed playoff position. Post-race, Christopher Bell expressed his disappointment to the media, stating “I am bummed about it – you want to push the leader out and have a shot to win it yourself. Just never really felt in control. I was always chasing my Interstate Batteries Camry. So I never got confident enough to get behind the 8 and push him.” He admitted his dismay about how “that last green-white-checkered” went down but seemed satisfied to finish his race in the third position.

A former Kyle Busch Motorsports alum, C Bell has been under Rowdy’s wing since his Truck Series days, driving for Busch’s now-defunct race team. He even won the team a Truck Series championship in 2017, before stepping up to the Xfinity Series with Joe Gibbs Racing the following year. At JGR, he became teammates with Kyle Busch, when he was finally called up to the Cup Series. Bell’s admiration for his mentor certainly shone through when he talked about his inability to help the latter get his first win since 2023.

The eventual race-winner, Harrison Burton, was also once a Kyle Busch Motorsports driver. He only ran a single full-time season on the race team. Some could even see his first career win as a moment where the student finally outclassed his teacher. In what is extremely likely to be his last season driving for Wood Brothers Racing, Burton finally has a confirmed playoff spot, thanks to his victory at Daytona. Kyle Busch has neither of those things in 2024. To make the playoffs, he must win at Darlington, another racetrack where he last won in 2008. And while discussing his chances with the press after his second straight top-5 finish, Busch bared it all.

The #8 team’s Playoff hopes hinge on Darlington redemption

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With Harrison Burton’s win, 13 drivers have now booked their chances of battling against each other in the Round of 16 elimination races, following the Southern 500 at Darlington. Kyle Busch now sits 106 points outside the playoff cutline. That technically means it’s either a win or nothing based on the heavy deficit in points he currently faces. Additionally, the last time he finished inside the top-5 at Darlington was in 2021 when he was still driving for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Hence, he wasn’t too optimistic about his chances next Sunday, when he told the press, “We ran good there the first time I ran with these guys early last year. But early this year, we struggled mightily. We’ll just have to go with hopefully a really good package that works, get our job done.”

As for Bell coming up maybe only a lap short of helping Kyle Busch to his playoff position? He said, via Kelly Crandall, “Unfortunately, [Bell], something happened off of Turn 2… Or he got squirreled up and wasn’t to my rear bumper and then he was below the yellow line and I don’t know what was going on. It completely killed the bottom lane and the outside just rolled.” Busch also agreed that he “could have jumped up in front of [Burton] and probably taken that,” win from his grasp. Thankfully, he thought better of that and hoped for a little more support from Christopher Bell. In his own words, “I had more trust in [Bell] there, being a better ally, but didn’t work out.”

But he remained appreciative of all he could accomplish at the end of a chaotic night. He thanked his crew chief, Randall Burnett, the #8 team, his sponsors, and everyone who helped him nab his first second-place finish since 2023 at COTA. If these recent displays could signal anything, maybe Kyle Busch could pull off the unexpected at Darlington next weekend.