With five consecutive top 10 finishes to begin the Chase for the Sprint Cup, Kyle Busch was off to the best playoff start of his career, second in points and seemingly in excellent position to advance to Round 3.
NASCAR standings 2014: Crash knocks Kyle Busch out of the Chase
Despite a strong start to the Chase, a crash eliminated Kyle Busch from playoff contention.
Tom Pennington
Busch, however, will not be moving on to the Eliminator Round. A crash Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway relegated him to a 40th-place finish and dropped him below the Chase cutline.
Busch was biding time in the back of the field when an accident involving Aric Almirola and J.J. Yeley occurred ahead on the backstretch. Busch slowed but rookie Austin Dillon hit him from behind, sending him crashing into the wall.
“We got wrecked from behind,” said crew chief Dave Rogers. “We didn’t drive into a wreck, we got our stuff stopped and the guys behind us didn’t and they just ran us over. It doesn’t matter if you’re first or 40th, if someone is going to run you over from behind, they’re going to run you over from behind.”
The Chase
The contact was significant and Busch immediately went to the garage, where the No. 18 car was swarmed by upwards of 20 crew members. After nearly an hour of repairs, Busch returned to the track 48 laps behind.
If other Chasers suffered similar fates, Busch may have advanced. But with the exception of Dale Earnhardt Jr., who also failed to transfer, no other playoff drivers experienced any trouble of consequence. (Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne were also eliminated.)
Instead, Busch finished 40th, missing the cut by seven points. He had needed just a 24th-place finish to claim a spot in the next round.
Although the two have had a somewhat testy relationship this season, including a notable flare-up in August at Bristol Motor Speedway, Rogers had nothing but praise for how his driver handled Sunday’s disappointment.
Busch left Talladega without speaking to reporters.
“I can’t praise him enough,” Rogers said. “He’s really stepped up to be a great leader of this race team in the Chase. We’ve had a couple things go against us -- getting the nose knocked off at Loudon, today and Kyle’s done a really good job of biting his lip and just backing the race team to let us do our job.
“Kyle, I can’t say enough good about him. I’m really proud of him.”
Chase for the Sprint Cup standings
| Rank | Driver | Points | Wins |
| 1 | Brad Keselowski | 4000 | 6 |
| 2 | Jeff Gordon | 4000 | 4 |
| 3 | Ryan Newman | 4000 | 0 |
| 4 | Joey Logano | 4000 | 4 |
| 5 | Carl Edwards | 4000 | 2 |
| 6 | Matt Kenseth | 4000 | 0 |
| 7 | Kevin Harvick | 4000 | 3 |
| 8 | Denny Hamlin | 4000 | 1 |
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