Like it or not you have to give Kyle Busch credit for not having a melt down Saturday night after failing to make the Chase for the Sprint Cup. I for one find it ironic that the guy with four wins is sitting out this year while there are four drivers with zero wins that have a chance for it. Consistency still pays in this sport, regardless of whatever anyone else is saying about this chase program, most of which is negative.

So, when it was all said and done Kyle Busch ran in the top 5 in Richmond but missed the chase by a mere 8 points. He climbed out of the car and was greeted by the hot lights of television and asked 10 different ways about “how do you feel?” What many couldn’t see was owner Joe Gibbs standing very close by observing his young race driver being interviewed. Busch did better than I would have.

What I really enjoyed was the post race conference in the media center where he and Matt Kenseth spoke to the press after not making the chase. Busch was asked about specific incidents he had during the season and be put out this gem when discussing Daytona, a place that hurt him pretty badly this year.

“I mean, you can look at Daytona in the spring,” Busch said referring to the Daytona 500. “I got wrecked by guys that were fighting for the Lucky Dog (ironically he was talking about Vickers and Dale Earnhardt Jr.)”. Then he noted that the guy who won also did not make it, “Kenseth was one spot right behind me and made it through the wreck and won the race and he’s sitting here at the loser table with me.”
He maturely added, “Unfortunately we are here in this predicament but we will live to see another day. We’ll go on for the rest of the year, both of us, and you know, it’s not just one race that we can look at that we can pick instances. I could have not have drove through Sam Hornish at Infineon, that cost me a good day there, too. It’s just a slew of bad races.”
Busch stayed and talked for a few minutes. Kenseth was pretty brief. “Really since California, we went to Vegas, and broke in the second lap or first lap and everything has really been downhill, he said. He quickly added, “I can’t say I’m really surprise that had we didn’t make it. I’m really disappointed we didn’t make it but we just didn’t perform good enough. Yeah, there’s mistakes here and there and some points left on the table but you can say that every year. Basically, we just didn’t perform good enough. We didn’t run good enough to be in and the way we ran the last three months, we didn’t deserve to be in there.”
Neither of those two guys was happy to be in the position they were in but the pressure is off. They can work and be better next season. History shows that coming back after such disappointments is almost expected. I am still very surprised that Busch is not in there.
Now, we’re off to New Hampshire where the dog-and-pony show will really get on my nerves. With every lap the ticker will be green with names of “chasers” who can still win the cup and those that are eliminated. We will also have to suffer with “points as we run” updates. Look, please do not waste our time with that broadcast idiocy. Its no different than watching a race live and listening to the radio guy scream, “Johnson is closing in fast as there’s two to go. Here comes Gordon, maybe 6 car lengths back…” We’re there and we see that unless Johnson wrecks, it’s all over…
I hope that this year’s edition of the chase is not the Jimmie Johnson show. I hope its close. I hope that Mark Martin wins it, I really do. However, I think that the champion will come between Johnson, Stewart and Jeff Gordon.