Getty Kyle Busch at Darlington.
After getting wrecked by Corey LaJoie at the July 14 NASCAR Cup Series Pocono race, Kyle Busch was asked by a reporter if he needed to have a conversation with the Spire Motorsports driver about the incident. He responded with a simple, “nah.”
During a July 19 appearance on the “Pat McAfee Show” before the upcoming race at Indianapolis, the two-time Cup Series champ confirmed that he hadn’t talked to LaJoie and provided some other interesting thoughts on the situation.
“I don’t have faith in anybody because I’ve been wrecked in five out of the last seven races by somebody..
Our cars haven’t been that great lately but we’re working on it” ~ @KyleBusch #PMSLive
“He texted me and then he called me,” Busch acknowledged. “I didn’t even reach back out because he changed his story four times. So I’m like, ‘You’re just a liar. Like, you wrecked me.’ Like, I get it. It’s fine. Whatever. Payback’s coming.”
Kyle Busch Doesn’t Have Faith in Any Drivers & Admits Car Hasn’t Been Good
Interestingly, during his extended in-studio interview with McAfee, Busch didn’t limit his criticism to LaJoie.
“But you guys are going 200 miles an hour. You have to have a little faith in each other, right?” McAfee wondered. “Because you’re all kind of.”
“I don’t have faith in any of them,” Busch interrupted.
“That’s scary individually,” another member of the show replied.
“I mean, I’ve been wrecked five out of the last seven races by somebody,” the Richard Childress Racing driver noted. “So I don’t have faith in — maybe I’m just slow and I’m in the way and they know I’m slow. So I’m an easy guy to pass. So they just want to, so they’re just like, they just want to knock me out.”
“Does your car suck or no?” the show host asked. “Do you have good car?”
“Our cars have not been that great right now,” the driver admitted. “We’re working on it. I mean, we’ve come to a lot of things of what we’re kind of learning about and figuring out.”
Kyle Busch in Worst Stretch of His Career
Kyle Busch being involved in so many accidents and having a car “that’s not been that great” has unsurprisingly resulted in one of the worst periods of racing in his distinguished Cup career.
Dating back to his first full-time season in 2005, or 20 years ago, the 39-year-old has not endured a worse seven-race stretch than what he’s currently experiencing, which is five DNFs, including four in the last five races. His average finishing position during that time is an abysmal 26.42.
.@KyleBusch reports the @cheddarskitchen Chevrolet needs to be better on entry. Busch is currently P20 with 20 minutes left in Cup series practice.
As a result of the No. 8’s season-long performance, Busch is 18th in the point standings and 102 points below the cutline with just five races remaining. The only real prospect of the veteran driver making the postseason is through a win.
If that happens, it would be even more significant because he would also extend his impressive streak to 20 consecutive years with a Cup win. If it doesn’t, then Busch would miss the playoffs but could still focus on making it to Victory Lane in the final 10 races, and more importantly, trying to improve on the team’s performance heading into 2025.
And based on what he told McAfee, there will also be a payback to LaJoie in the process.