CUP: Kyle Busch Apologizes For Letting Win Slip Away At CMS

Sprint Cup

CUP: Kyle Busch Apologizes For Letting Win Slip Away At CMS

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Kyle Busch has come a long way in handling defeat...

SceneDaily.com | Posted October 17, 2010 Charlotte, NC

To lose Saturday night's race at Charlotte Motor Speedway after being so dominant was a bitter pill for Kyle Busch to swallow. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Article Written by Kris Johnson, SceneDaily.com

Remember when Kyle Busch used to bolt the race track without comment after losing a race he should have won?

It wasn’t all that long ago, but Busch has come a long way in handling defeat. He proved that after leading a race-high 217 laps in Saturday night’s Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Busch had little to show for it after Jamie McMurray passed him following the final restart on lap 313 of the 334-lap race. Sure, the finish will go down as a runner-up result. But after Busch declared his Chase hopes “over” last week following an engine failure that left him 35th at Auto Club Speedway, he was left to race for nothing but wins.

To lose this race after being so dominant was a bitter pill, but Busch swallowed it and even took blame for letting it slip away.

“I’m sorry to all the guys, I mean everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing, everybody in the engine shop, chassis shop. It’s my job to come out here and get a win for these guys and I’m the one behind the wheel and ultimately didn’t make the right adjustments and gave it up,” Busch said.

He also credited McMurray with beating him when it counted.

VIDEO: Cup - Charlotte Jamie McMurray Wins at CMS (Image: SPEED)

“He was faster than me and he beat us. Nothing to it but that. Just didn’t quite have it at the end. I gave it up two nights in a row,” said Busch, who suffered another late-race disappointment when Brad Keselowski won Friday night’s Nationwide race at Charlotte.

Crew chief Dave Rogers was having none of that talk, though.

“We’re not going to accept his apology. We’re one team. I know that Kyle was disappointed the 1 car got by us. The fact of the matter is they chased us down and then they beat us on the restart. When it counted, they were the better car,” Rogers said. “For most of the night, we had the better car, but you can’t take anything from the 1 team, and I’m not going to let Kyle take credit for losing that race.

“We got beat tonight.”

Busch overcame a stuck throttle early in the race – the problem remedied itself – and showed he was the class of the field by leading 104 of the final 131 laps. When a caution flag came out for debris on lap 309, it set the stage for the final restart that saw McMurray clear Busch coming out of Turn 2. Busch was clearly frustrated by NASCAR’s decision to wave the yellow flag.

“I don’t know what the caution was for,” he said. “Apparently there was a mouse that ran across the race track or something.”

Some soothing words from team owner Joe Gibbs after the race seemingly calmed Busch, but he said they did nothing to ease the sting from seeing the victory slip away. It would have been his first career Cup win at Charlotte.

“Nobody can put it in perspective right now,” Busch said. “It’s very, very disappointing.”

Busch gained four spots in the standings to fifth, but the 177-point deficit to leader Jimmie Johnson appears insurmountable.

“We want to rack up wins. We were points racing last week and this week we’re trophy hunting. We want to win some races here and end our season with a bang,” Rogers said.

It wasn’t the ending they were looking for at Charlotte, but to his credit, Busch was around to lend his perspective this time when it was over.

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