“I tried to force my hand to get to his outside,” Kyle Busch himself admitted after another racing heartbreak. The veteran NASCAR Cup Series driver has faced multiple upsets this year. Ranging from untimely crashes to mechanical failures and speeding penalties, the No. 8 Chevrolet team has gone through a lot. Busch even seemed on the verge of breaking that dismal trend last weekend.

But he got into another mishap, by way of his own doing, as a NASCAR insider opines. Kyle Busch was among the race leaders at the Hollywood Casino 400, battling fiercely with Ross Chastain at the end. Rowdy could have very well awakened after 51 long, drab races. However, a brush with his own dimming sparkly sealed his fate.

Is Kyle Busch behind his own misfortune?

The Richard Childress Racing driver had a solid start to the Kansas race. Starting 3rd, he lingered around the top-ten crowd for most of the event. But KFB’s moment to shine emerged only in the latter stage when Kyle Busch exchanged the race lead with Ross Chastain several times. It seemed like Rowdy was about to embarrass Richard Petty further—he had already broken a tie with Richard Petty by winning for the 19th straight year. However, an unexpected encounter with Chase Briscoe spun him out of contention yet again.

Kyle Busch pointed fingers at Briscoe: “I don’t think anybody gives anybody anything anymore.”

Even Carson Hocevar blamed Briscoe for the incident, linking him to his own misfortune as well. However, ‘Door, Bumper, Clear’ host Freddie Kraft thinks otherwise. “I don’t think Chase did anything wrong. Could he have been more accommodating? Yes, obviously. But you’re racing to stay on the lead lap. Chase left him just enough room for a car to get outside.” Brett Griffin also agreed with Kraft: “I think this was a Kyle Busch screw-up. And I think he screwed up because he was trying too hard.”

With 31 laps to go, Chase Briscoe refused to give Kyle Busch enough room. As the latter tried to squeeze past, Busch spun himself out. So Kraft explained further: “We saw in Michigan a couple of guys spin out in the same aero position, where you offset somebody to the rear a little bit. I think it caught Kyle off guard…He’s probably pushing a little extra harder there trying to get outside of Chase on the exit to get that run down the backstretch…It just steps out. When these cars step out, you can’t bring them back sometimes.”

And given Kyle Busch‘s exceptionally bad year, the DBC guys’ assertion makes more sense.

Busch’s drab streak speaks for itself

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• “I’m a Kyle Busch fan myself,” Chase Briscoe admitted post-Kansas, admitting how he hated to see his hero’s misery.
• Even Brett Griffin said, “I think he’s one of the best ever to hold a steering wheel.” 

Kyle Busch is a 63-time Cup race winner with championships in multiple NASCAR series. Throughout his 20-year-long career, KFB has only oozed gold on the racetrack. However, 2024 will forever remain a blemish, as his 51-race winless streak is the longest yet. With no glimmer visible on the horizon, Busch might just snap his consecutive victory record after all.

Multiple DNFs, unlucky positions, and RCR team failures stuttered Kyle Busch’s progress. So Griffin could not help but spell Busch’s weaker stance this year. “He went on a run this summer where he had top-five, top-six cars. And he consistently didn’t finish there because he was trying too hard.” 

The Athletic’s Jordan Bianchi also agrees with Griffin. He said, “He really has had a year where he hasn’t been in contention for many wins.” He also added the difficulty of adapting to the Next Gen car: “Certainly a missed opportunity absolutely and speaks to I think a bigger issue that’s been an issue for Kyle Busch since this new car. Which is, I don’t think his skillset is adapting well to this and it’s been a struggle for him sometimes to get his hand around it.”

Evidently, Kyle Busch’s misfortune is slowly losing its value as people are pointing fingers at the driver himself. Will he be able to reverse this miserable narrative?