Busch satisfied with progress at RCR even as doors close on playoffs

Kyle Busch did not earn a berth in the NASCAR Cup Series postseason, but his Richard Childress Racing team took another step forward at Darlington Raceway on Sunday.

Busch had an average running position of 14th but charged late in the Southern 500 to get to second place behind Chase Briscoe. The two-time Cup Series champion had a tire advantage on Briscoe, having pitted during a rash of late cautions, but he was unable to mount a serious challenge for the lead.

It was his second consecutive runner-up effort, and fifth top-five on the season. Busch needed a win to get a place in the postseason.

“When I made it through a few of those guys on the start, I thought we’d have a shot to get there,” said Busch of believing he had the right strategy at the end. “I think we needed to have maybe three or four more laps older tires for me to be able to break through the wake once I got within his air. I really didn’t have enough to power through th at to get closer; I was kind of sliding already.

“I hate it for our guys and everybody on our team, everybody at RCR.”

Busch fell behind with a rocky season that saw him earn just three top-10 finishes in the first 10 races. During the summer stretch, he had five DNFs in seven races. But in the five races to end the regular season, Busch and the No. 8 team finished 12th or better in four of them, including stringing together three consecutive top-four finishes. He also led 37 laps in those five races.

“They’ve turned it around the last four or five weeks and we’ve run a lot better, and that’s been much improved and beneficial to our team and organization,” Busch said. “Something to build on and get better for. We just missed a lot in the early part of the year and through the middle part of the year to put ourselves in this spot to be outside looking in. So, to come in here for a last-ditch effort and have a shot – early in the race, I wouldn’t have thought we’d have a shot – it felt like we really overachieved there toward the end, and got a really good finish for what we had or what I thought we had.