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'We'll be eliminated in the next round:' Kyle Busch is not optimistic about his playoff chances

Kyle Busch finished second for the first time in 19 races Saturday night at Bristol.

He also extended his winless streak to 29 races. Busch is still winless in 2020 after earning last year’s title. And he doesn’t think that his team has a chance to contend for the championship this season either.

“We'll be eliminated in the next round, so don't care,” Busch said Saturday night after he finished second to Kevin Harvick.

Busch’s comment above came when someone asked what it was like heading to his hometown of Las Vegas for the next race in the playoffs. Thanks to the points reset at the beginning of the second round, Busch is starting the next round of the playoffs 63 points behind Harvick. That’s more than a full race’s worth of points.

[Harvick wins at Bristol]

Had Busch been able to chase down Harvick in the final laps Saturday night, that gap would be closer. But not by all that much. Busch would instead be 53 points behind Harvick and still outside the top five in the points standings.

Before Saturday night, Busch’s last second-place finish came at Atlanta in the 10th race of the season. While he has the third-most top-five finishes of anyone in the Cup Series this season, Busch has consistently failed to score playoff points throughout the season and his average finish is just ninth-best.

Does Busch think that his team is close to being competitive with Harvick and teammate Denny Hamlin? Harvick has nine wins in 2020 and Hamlin has seven.

“No,” Busch said.

Busch led for 10 laps inside the final 50 laps of Saturday night’s race. But Harvick led the final 32 laps of the race after passing Busch when the defending Cup Series champion got hung behind Joey Logano as the two were dealing with lapped traffic.

“He's nobody's friend for a reason, so there you have it,” Busch said of Logano.

This is a good way for Kyle Busch to sum up his season. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
This is a good way for Kyle Busch to sum up his season. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.

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