There are a lot of disappointed faces after the Cook Out Southern 500, as many drivers’ dreams of the playoffs got crushed. Chase Briscoe became the final entry by winning into the playoffs, and with that, drivers like Kyle Busch and Bubba Wallace lost their chance. According to the playoff rules, a driver must secure a win to get the green light for the playoffs, and Kyle Busch didn’t win a race all season.

The veteran and two-time Cup Series Champion had a difficult year, and that is visible in the stats. Although the post-Olympic period showed better results, ultimately, he came in the top 5 a few times but never managed to win. Daytona was his last shot at winning, but that too was taken away when Harrison Burton unexpectedly overtook him on the last lap. Considering this, it’s fair to say that Busch is not happy with the outcome of this season, and here is what he had to say about it.

Kyle Busch on not making it into the playoffs

One interesting fact about Kyle Busch is that before this year, he was a contender in the playoffs for 11 consecutive years straight. His streak ended this year, and obviously, this is a difficult pill for him to swallow. So during the post-race interview at Darlington, Kyle Busch was asked about his results this season.

In response to that, Busch replied, “It’s fine, you know; we put ourselves in this position. Through much of that race, I didn’t think we had a shot to get ourselves a win and punch our way through. But with the tires there at the end and having an opportunity, it just put wind in our sails.”

He continued about what happened at Darlington as he caught dirty air from another car, saying, “But then once I got in the wind of the 14 car, I couldn’t do anything with it. I just lost too much grip and the wake on these things. He wasn’t blocking or anything; I just lost grip. That was all I had.”

The interviewer prompted Busch about his stats throughout the season as he asked if the RCR driver had taken a look at them. Busch replied, saying, “A lot of people are stats people. I have gone back and looked at the stats, and the amount of second and third-place finishes I have in this next-gen car is disgusting.”

Busch added on to say, “Yeah, I mean, that’s going to be our thing. If we can chase some checkered flags, we might p-ss some people off in the mayhem of getting those, you know?” With this, he explained that other drivers won’t like the fact that “guys on the outside,” are winning races as it will ruin their points for the day.

For the two-time Cup Series champion, coming in the top 5 and not winning was, as he said, “really, really getting old, and it really, really sucks that I can’t come out on top and get myself some more trophies, more checkered flags for my team, Team Chevy, and all of our sponsors and everyone that supports us and gets us here—and give rowdy nation something to really cheer about on Monday.”

But although Busch did not win a race, he could have made it into the playoffs by accumulating points through the season. When he was asked about his recent surge, Busch had more to add.

Busch on having 3 top 5 finishes in recent races

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Kyle Busch had a difficult start to the season and the situation only got better when it was too late. The Richard Childress Racing driver picked up his pace after the Olympic break with hopes of winning a race. In the end, all he managed to get were three Top 5 finishes, which helped him get closer to the playoffs but was not enough to put him in the top 16.

When he was asked about his recent performance, he replied, saying that he wished that he would have done this earlier in the year. Ultimately, he was too far behind to catch up and, with the winning being the only way for him to make it, the stakes were too high.

There were way too many drivers who needed a win to get into the playoffs, but ultimately, it was Chase Briscoe who won in the last race of the regular season. Now that Kyle Busch’s streak is broken, do you think he will use that as fuel to prove himself again next year? Share your thoughts in the comments below.