Kyle Busch qualifies for Chase despite missing 11 races

He may have missed 11 races but it doesn’t matter. Kyle Busch will be in the Chase for the Sprint Cup field having secured a berth in NASCAR’s playoffs Sunday night at Darlington Raceway.

Busch locked up a spot in the 16-driver playoff with a seventh-place finish in the Southern 500. He missed nearly one-third of the season recovering from a broken right leg and broken left foot sustained in a Feb. 21 crash during the Xfinity Series race at Daytona International Speedway.

“Making the Chase was something we weren’t all sure was possible after my injuries,” Busch said. “It’s a great opportunity.”

Competing for the championship this season wasn’t an opportunity that Busch knew he would have. Due to his three-month absence he needed a waiver making him eligible to qualify for the Chase if he won a race and ranked 30th or better in the series points standings. NASCAR acquiesced the request when the Joe Gibbs Racing driver came back on Memorial Day weekend.

Busch fulfilled the first requirement when he won in June at Sonoma Raceway, the first of four regular season victories he would earn. The second provision proved to be more difficult and took on added complication when he crashed out in two of his first four races upon returning.

“We weren’t looking so good after Michigan,” Busch said. “It was really doom and gloom and I was bumming. I just wasn’t sure what to do. I wasn’t sure what was going on. It took a little bit of time to get the rust knocked off, I guess.

But as he began winning and demonstrating greater consistency, that points deficit quickly diminished and allowed Busch to leave Darlington no longer on the playoff bubble. He qualified for the Chase with one regular season remaining.

“It was something we weren’t sure was possible when I came back from all the injuries and the rehab and everything like that,” Busch said. “I thought there was a slim chance. I wasn’t sure how good a chance we had.”

Forced to start in a backup car after hitting the wall and damaging his primary machine in practice on Friday, Busch had an eventful Southern 500 on Sunday. He and Greg Biffle tangled in Turn 1 resulting in both spinning on Lap 208. Neither driver incurred significant, but Busch did fall to the rear of the field after multiple pit stops.

Busch did not blame Biffle for the incident, saying both drivers were at fault. The drivers talked amicably on pit road post-race.

“No give-and-take -- I guess no give, plenty of take,” Busch said. “That’s not how you’re supposed to race Darlington and we both screwed it up.”

Busch would eventually recoup the lost track and drove a patient race the remainder of the night. That fulfilled the goal he and crew chief Adam Stevens had of not wanting to enter next weekend’s regular season at Richmond International Raceway without already having locked into the Chase.

The feat of making the playoffs despite sidelined 11 races impressed team owner Joe Gibbs, who’s frequently touted Busch’s comeback as a “great sports story.”

“Everything that happened to us there at Daytona and then for him to bounce back in 11 weeks, I felt like the odds were against us,” Gibbs said. “And for him to be able to pull this off and come back, win four times and get back in the Chase tonight -- they had a great game plan, Adam and Kyle (at Darlington).

“They talked all night about the game plan, what they wanted to do, and first up was to make sure that they had enough points tonight that they didn’t have to worry next week.”