Kyle Busch Ditched by His Teammate and Allies Has NASCAR Fandom in Splits Raising Concern for the Veteran

Another weekend, another heartbreak for Kyle Busch. Now it has almost become routine to expect the Cup Series veteran to run into misfortune. He has struggled all this year – facing pit crew problems, engine trouble, and speeding penalties. But Busch has yet to flip the sob story that kicked off after his Gateway win in June 2023. And Talladega witnessed a sign of his crumbling empire.

The 2.66-mile superspeedway allows cars to coordinate in drafting, helping one another move through the field quickly. Each OEM sticks together – like the Fords did a fabulous job sticking to the end. But although a Chevy won the race, Kyle Busch was not counted in the party that included his teammate.

Kyle Busch is getting lonelier

For a veteran Cup Series driver who has been plagued with bad luck this year, loneliness is expected. Nothing seems to go right for Kyle Busch – he tallied five DNFs in a seven-week span. His near misses are huge heartbreaks – Busch has a pair of runner-up finishes and lost a three-wide race to the finish line by a mere 0.007 seconds in Atlanta’s spring race. This enormous evidence of poor luck has downplayed people’s expectations for Busch to win as well.

This led to an embarrassing situation for the two-time Cup Series champion at Talladega Superspeedway. While the Chevrolet drivers were pushing each other on the final lap, all of them ignored the winningest Chevy wheeler among them. Kyle Busch opened a new line, hoping for someone to get behind him and cruise forward. But nobody came – not even his teammate, Austin Dillon. And the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet fell like a rock to the back of the pack. Eventually, Busch had to make do with a 19th-place finish, the same spot he secured last week in Kansas.

After losing all his track progress in Kansas, Rowdy said he feels ‘numb’. The same emotion was reflected when he explained his experience, blaming himself for opening that lonely line. “We were able to dodge a couple of the big accidents, and crew chief Randall Burnett made adjustments to improve our car’s balance. Late in the race, we were in position to score a top-five finish. On the last lap, I made a move that, unfortunately, didn’t work, and we got shuffled back in the pack. It’s frustrating because we ran better than where we finished. We’ll bounce back next week at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.”

This sordid state of affairs triggered waves of concerns among fans. Rowdy people were shocked to see their idol wallowing in misery.

NASCAR fans empathize with Busch

Although his Chevrolet compatriots abandoned him on the racetrack, fans will not leave Kyle Busch easily. After all, his 231 NASCAR National Series victories are higher than Richard Petty’s total Cup Series victories. Busch has won at almost every single racetrack, and one fan lamented the changing times. “There was a time a short while ago that he would have brought a line with him. Nobody jumped out there.” Somebody else drew a parallel with Shane van Gisbergen. Primarily a Supercars driver, SVG also felt left out during his first superspeedway runs in NASCAR. “Kyle got the SVG treatment,” the comment read.

Some people were furious at other drivers for not hailing Rowdy’s decision. One fan did not mince his words while bashing the ones who left Busch lonely. “Its really moronic by all of them. If you aren’t in the first two rows, WHY are you happy to stay there? Row 3 guy tries to start a new line and you STAY where you are? F-***g dummies.” Another fan threw shots at Ty Dillon, Busch’s own teammate, for forgetting his once-stellar compatriot. “If his teammate Dillon had chose the outside lane and 2 lines behind he could have jumped out and pushed him🤦‍♀️🙇‍♀️” The continuous streak of bad finishes and now dwindling companionship might axe Busch’s motivation. “This man is gonna just walk away from nascar just for his mental health alone,” one comment read.

Evidently, Kyle Busch still has support in the community – although his own racing companions are betraying him. Let us see if he actually snaps the 19-year winning streak or not.