Kyle Busch’s winless streak is now the longest of his NASCAR Cup career, but the two-time series champion moved closer to a playoff spot despite being wrecked on the last lap of Sunday’s race at Sonoma Raceway.
Two-time Cup champion Joey Logano also moved closer to a playoff spot despite being collected in a crash and seeing his winless streak extended at Sonoma.
Kyle Larson won his third race of the season Sunday. Ten races remain in the regular season.
Busch was running fifth on the last lap when he was hit by Ross Chastain and spun. Busch finished 12th, losing seven points due to the incident.
“A couple of guys there at the end of the race had better tires than we did, but we were going to have a good day,” Busch said in a statement from his team. “Unfortunately, one of those guys got into us on the last lap and ruined our day. It’s frustrating to not get the finish that we deserved.”
Still, that was Busch’s best finish in the last four races.
Busch entered the race 20 points below the cutline for the playoffs. Even with that finish, Busch is eight points behind Bubba Wallace for the final playoff spot heading into the June 16 Cup race at Iowa Speedway on USA Network.
Busch is winless 37 consecutive points races, the longest drought of his career. His longest drought was 36 races, which ended in July 2017 at Pocono. Busch has won at least one race in a NASCAR record 19 consecutive seasons.
What drivers said after NASCAR Cup race at Sonoma Raceway
Kyle Larson scored his third Cup win of the season.
Logano, who entered the race 20 points out of a playoff spot, finished 21st after starting on the pole. He is 16 points behind Wallace for the final playoff spot.
Logano, winless in 47 consecutive points races, led the opening 16 laps before pitting. On the ensuing restart, Logano was collected in the crash and his car was damaged.
Source Agencies
