Kyle Busch has fallen outside a playoff spot after finishing 35th in Sunday’s Cup race at World Wide Technology Raceway.
The two-time Cup champion saw his race come to an end after an incident with Kyle Larson that sent Busch into the wall.
Austin Cindric went on to win and become the eighth driver to claim a spot in the 16-driver playoff field. Cindric entered the race 20th in points — outside a playoff spot.
Eleven races remain in the regular season.
Sunday’s race also saw Busch’s winless drought extend to 36 races. That ties his longest career Cup winless drought.
Busch and Larson were racing for seventh place on the last lap of the second stage when Larson’s car broke loose into a spin and sent Busch into the wall. Busch was done for the race. Larson continued and went on to finish 10th.
“It looked like (Larson) got loose down the front straightaway into Turn 1,” Busch said. “He was on older tires and trying to get us for a spot. I’m not sure what that single point would mean for him, but it certainly hurt us a lot.
“It took that point away, as well as the others that we would get for the stage and then also the rest of the day. It’s very frustrating. We can’t afford days like that. The No. 8 Rebel Bourbon Camaro wasn’t what it was last year, but it was a top-10 car and we were going to finish there. Now we’re not going to finish at all.”
Larson told Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass after the race: “I was a little bit better than (Busch) … and side drafted him and barely touched his quarter panel. I don’t know. I’m guessing it ticked him off. He squeezed into me. I honestly thought I had a flat when I went into Turn 1 because it just turned around backwards, but I guess he just must have took the air off me. ... I’m not sure what his side of it was. That was my side.”
Told Busch’s comment about questioning why one point would matter to him, Larson told Pockrass: “I think every point is important for everybody in the field. Even guys at the front of the field like myself, we’re trying to win the regular-season championship. Those 15 bonus (playoff) points go a long way, so yeah, every spot was important.
“I thought if I could just hang with him down the frontstretch, we could race through (Turns) 1 and 2 and maybe hang with him again down the backstretch and maybe clear his through (Turns) 3 and 4 because if I could hit my marks there, I was a little bit better than him. Just hard racing. I’ve got nothing bad to say about Kyle. We’ve always raced extremely well together. Nothing changes on my end.”
NASCAR’s points report also shows Larson without any playoff points — a sign that Larson remains ineligible for the playoffs after not starting last month’s Coca-Cola 600 because he was competing in the rain-delayed Indianapolis 500 that day. NASCAR has not announced a decision on if to grant Larson a playoff waiver.
With Larson’s status as it is for the time being, there are eight drivers who have won to put them in a playoff spot. They are: William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell, Brad Keselowski, Daniel Suarez and Cindric.
Should Larson receive a playoff waiver, he would be the ninth driver to be in a playoff spot due to a win. He has two victories this season.
With Larson not playoff eligible at this point, Chase Briscoe holds the final playoff spot. He is four points ahead of Joey Logano and 10 points ahead of Busch.
Should Larson receive a playoff waiver before next weekend’s race at Sonoma, Chris Buescher would hold the final playoff spot and Briscoe would be the first driver below the cutline. Busch would be 20 points behind Buescher.
