Kyle Busch’s Bristol Results Disappointing In NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race

Coming into Saturday night’s NASCAR race, it was hard to pick against Kyle Busch.

Busch had recorded four wins in the last five Sprint Cup races at Bristol, along with victories in the last three Nationwide Series races (including Friday night) and three of the last four Camping World Truck Series events.

The 26-year-old was so confident in his chances to score his sixth Bristol victory, he told the crowd during driver introductions, “I’m here to take another one.”

Starting from the 23rd spot, Busch had his work cut out for him if he wanted to back up his bravado, but things never seemed to pan out for the driver of the No. 18 Toyota. In fact, Busch was never a factor up front in Saturday night’s race, leading just once for a total of four laps.

Running in the top 10 for much of the evening, his night took a turn for the worse when he made contact with a lapped car while battling three-wide with Martin Truex Jr.

While Brad Keselowski drove away with the win, Busch finished the night in 14th. Even third-place finisher Jeff Gordon admitted he was “surprised” the leaders were not racing Busch, saying he “expected him to be up there.”

“We just didn’t quite have the balance that we were looking for the whole (weekend),” Busch said after the race. “Unfortunately, we thought we were doing the right thing this morning and turns out we did the wrong things for the car for the race. Kind of disappointing day, but proud of the guys.”

Commending his crew on never giving up, Busch said the team was never able to “get that special Bristol feel.”