36xRacing

36×36: 2024-3-Vegas
8-Childress:
Driver: Kyle Busch – Crew Chief: Randall Burnett – Spotter: Derek Kneeland
Playoff seed entering race:
t-1^st (+30 to cut) (15 playoff points – 1^st in standings)

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Mistakes in Las Vegas, nothing out of the ordinary. Richard Childress Racing number 8 car pit road penalties in 2024, nothing out of the ordinary.

For the third week in a row, the 8 car was assessed a penalty on pit road, but this one (at his home track with a top ten run) must sting more than the others for Kyle Busch.

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In practice, Busch had great speed. The team posted the fourth-best 10-lap average in practice, only behind the 5, 24, and 45 cars (easily the best three performing cars on Sunday).

A 21^st place qualifying effort meant that the 8 team would start deep in the field, behind their fast peers from the practice charts.

Early in the race Busch complained of the car being tight in traffic, “really bad, holy shit, man, we’re off.”

The early Christopher Bell spin allowed for adjustments under yellow while maintaining a top 20 running position.

Over the next short stint, Busch complained about an inability to hug the car to the bottom of the track in turns three and four while behind traffic.

At the next yellow, the team pit with most of the pack but decided to take a shorter stop with two tires, getting Kyle out of the mid-pack traffic and up in cleaner air. The move worked and kept Busch in the top five for the rest of stage one, leading 18 laps and collecting seven stage points.

In stage two, Busch kept the top five effort going, slowly moving forward through the stage until the pit cycle at lap 120. What appeared to be a slow right side tire change meant a slow stop that slid the 8 car from P2 before the cycle to P4 after.

Busch was back up to second place at the late stage two caution that saw the field head for the pits. A catastrophically slow right-front tire change put the 8 car down to P17 on the restart with just a few laps left in the stage. This meant that no points in stage two would be awarded to the driver that entered the day in the points lead.

Busch started the final stage in 14^th but was able to quickly make up ground. The 8 car moved up to P9 in the first fifteen laps of the run.

“Tires are smoked,” said Busch after quickly gaining five positions.

The final green flag pit cycle of the day started on lap 208 with Busch running in a strong 8^th position.

During the stop, Busch slid a splitter-length too far forward through the pit box. The 8 team was assessed a pass-through penalty for pitting outside the box, putting them nearly two laps down and into 32^nd place.

Busch took the wave-around during the final caution on lap 236 to get back on the lead lap. Taking the wave meant that the car had 30-lap older tires than the field on the restart, with a car that was already struggling in traffic.

Busch would restart 30^th with 27 laps to go, eventually finishing 26^th.

The points in stage one can provide some relief for the 8 team but, realistically it’s a reminder of what could have been. Pit road mistakes cost the team at least 20 points on the day.

Maintaining P2 at the end of stage two would have added nine points to their bucket. And not having a pit penalty under green could have kept a top ten finish from sliding to 26^th, meaning at least 15 more points.

These are extremely meaningful points at this stage in the season. Busch entered the day as the regular season points leader but leaves in a tie for sixth. While it is still early in the season, this still demonstrates the value of every point and how it impacts the regular season standings bonus.

With the 15 points lost in pit road errors added to his current regular season total, Busch would jump to second in the standings, adding five playoff points to his current total.

This week the Cup Series heads to Phoenix. Busch had a string of five-straight top 5 finishes at Phoenix from spring 2018 to spring 2020, but no top fives since. The Richard Childress Racing team will need to reduce the mistakes on pit road, capture some stage points, and try to maintain their position in the standings.

36×36: 2024-3-Vegas
8-Childress:
Finish: P26 (S1:4th) – 18pts

Playoff seed leaving race: 8th (+29 to cut) (5 playoff points – 6th in standings)

Next race: 4-Phoenix
36×36 featured team: 14-SHR