Kyle Busch’s season of discontent continued on Sunday in the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race in Mexico City. This time, he only had himself to blame.
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With a light rain and wet pavement in the Viva Mexico 250 on the 2.42-mile Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez road course, Busch began to slide on the entrance into Turn 1 of Lap 7, triggering a multi-car wreck, collecting the No. 7 of Justin Haley, the No. 5 of Kyle Larson, the No. 16 of AJ Allmendinger, the No. 19 of Chase Briscoe and the No. 38 of Zane Smith.
“I went to the brakes and just ice,” Busch lamented. “Maybe it was a little bit too heavy of a brake spike. Just turned around backwards and spun out backwards. Hate it for all the guys that got involved. That was obviously purely my fault.”
To his credit, Busch did attempt to limit the damage caused to the other drivers. “I don’t know what to have done differently… I was in trouble for a good second or two and then I was like, ‘I’m going to nail some people, so I better turn around backwards and at least try to soften the blow,’” he added.
When all the contact and spinning came to an end, Busch’s day was done. He finished last in the 37-car field. He ultimately dropped three spots in the standings — from 15th to 18th — and is now below the 16 driver cutline for this year’s playoffs with 10 regular season races now remaining.
Admittedly, Busch is only seven points out of 16th place, which is currently occupied by Michael McDowell. But the bad luck for the driver of the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet just keeps continuing regardless.
Busch has zero wins this season. In fact, he hasn’t won since 2023 — a 73-race winless streak and the longest of his Cup career. He has just one top-five and five top-10 finishes.
Unless ‘Rowdy’ can finish the 26-race regular season in the top 16, this could be the second straight season that the two-time Cup champion misses the playoffs.
