Why Didn’t Kyle Busch Bump Denny Hamlin For The Lead? Rowdy Explains

Saturday night’s Richmond race was billed as one of the few times drivers would be willing to go all-out with a chance to earn a valuable 10 bonus points for the Chase.

After all, only one driver had to worry about falling out of the Chase. The rest could theoretically drive as hard as possible and do whatever it took to win with no fear of losing points.

But when Kyle Busch had a chance to put a bumper to Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin late in the race, he didn’t.

Why not?

Because as Busch basically said, team unity was more valuable than those 10 points.

“We caught up to him and I thought we had something for him,” Busch said. “In traffic, I could have made a ballsy move and gotten through him, but it would have made contact. I would rather have seen the Joe Gibbs cars finish 1-2.”

Busch said he wanted to win (of course), but “racing teammates clean like that and not laying a bumper” to Hamlin was important in making sure everything was smooth with the JGR cars entering the Chase.

So the drama wasn’t meant to be at Richmond. At Homestead, though, things might be different.

“If it does, it’s going to be no holds barred,” Busch said. “...If it comes down to me having to win the race in order to win the championship or if he wins the race he wins the championship, it’s going to be whatever happens.”

Maybe that’ll make up for a disappointing night at Richmond.