Kyle Busch has been in this game long enough to know what needs to be done in order to escape playoff eliminations and make it into the final four. He has done it before, so why can’t he do it again right? Well, his former teammate and fellow driver Denny Hamlin seems to disagree with him making it to the final race at Phoenix competing for his third championship.
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While speaking over his podcast recently, Hamlin mentioned the overall reason why people often in the top eight sometimes manage to be eliminated early on. Furthermore, Hamlin also revealed how Busch’s fans often come at him, when Hamlin throws Busch into a negative light surrounding his performance and future playoff position.
Denny Hamlin talks about facing Kyle Busch fans when he doesn’t favor him
While speaking on his podcast, Hamlin mentioned, “I’m gonna stick with what I said months ago, about the final four. I had the #24, the #19, the #11, and the #5, in the final four. I don’t see that changing…” The JGR veteran then added that the chances of the drivers to advance in the final four remain low mostly since, “We always see someone in the top eight seats going into playoffs, stumble on the first round, or not make it…”
Hamlin’s co-host then mentioned that the eliminations were not necessarily always based on the driver’s performance. But instead, they were chucked out because of other factors. He then added, “That’s why they don’t make it typically… Really, the first round is execution base like you know don’t have any major blow-ups, that’s wrecks, failures, and mistakes.”
Subsequently, Hamlin’s co-host mentions that he feels the first to be eliminated could be Kyle Busch, based on his observation. Hamlin responds, “Yeah, I always whenever I’m negative on Kyle (Busch) or I don’t pick him to be in the final… Like Kyle Busch fans, they come heavy.”
“I would not disagree with that because he has been hot and cold. I mean, the guy could win all three races and nobody would be surprised or he could have mistakes or trouble” However, Hamlin also argued that the tracks in the first round of the playoffs were good for him, hence, it was unlikely that he would be knocked out after the next three races.
Busch’s crew chief does not believe they are a championship contender
While there can be several speculations going forward regarding Busch’s chances of making the final four at the end of the season this year, at the moment it does not seem like his crew chief is too confident with their performance predictions.
Busch has been performing well, however, it is the lack of consistency that has been bothering the people back at RCR. Earlier, this month, crew chief Randall Burnett told the press, “We don’t have the consistency on a weekly basis that I think we need to be a championship team right now. We’re working on that, discussing how to do things better to be a little more consistent and working to get our short track package better.”
Considering that in order to advance in the playoff, Busch would have to either win races or stage points, Burnett added they lacked the consistency at the moment to make that happen on a regular basis.
Currently, the two-time Cup Series champion sits in the 5th place heading into the postseason. He does have the points advantage to make it through the eliminations. But we would have to see a consistent finish across each race in order to see him as a contender for the championship later this year.
