LOUDON, N.H. – Kyle Busch had a very clear message for Kevin Harvick, and the rest of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series field, following Sunday’s Foxwoods Resort & Casino 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
What goes around comes around.
Busch finished second to Harvick after the latter executed a bump-and-run pass to take the lead with seven laps left, going on to the victory while Busch was left frustrated despite a strong result.
“It’s racing. We had a really, really poor performance today. Our Interstate Batteries Camry just wasn’t there all weekend. We kept fighting the same things all weekend long and we never made any gains on it all through practice,” noted Busch. “We struggled with it through the race and Adam (Stevens, crew chief) made some really, really good calls and some really good adjustments to keep improving on it. My pit crew was flawless. They gained us all those spots on pit road to get us out front to get us in that position, to have a shot to go after the win, and that’s all you can ask for.
“We controlled the restart and drove away by a little bit, but we weren’t the best car on the long run. All the SHR (Stewart-Haas Racing) cars were really, really good today. They were all fast, so it was going to be hard to hold them off,” Busch added. “I was backing up … three, four, five corners in a row. With a faster car, I’m not sure he (Harvick) had to move me like that, but he did.
“How you race is how you get raced, so it’s fine.”
Busch surmised that Harvick’s move came from the Cup Series’ recent finish at Chicagoland Speedway earlier in the month. In that race, Busch bumped Kyle Larson out of the way in turn three on the final lap, sending Larson spinning while Busch went on to victory lane.
“Well, he did that because of Chicago,” said Busch. “I think that, you know, he had a fair game. Everybody has fair game on Kyle Busch – that’s for sure when it comes to the fan base, so that’s fine. (If) that’s how they want to race, then that’s how I’ll race back, but it was just a bump. It wasn’t a big deal. He didn’t wreck me or anything like that, and he did it early enough, but he did it way harder and pushed me out of the groove three lanes.
“It just takes you so long to recover here that there was just no possible way I could get back to him … but I was slower anyways. I was in the way, so really, it’s no harm, no foul.”
Busch pointed out that he knew Harvick was on his bumper from the start, but had hoped the move for the lead wouldn’t have been quite as aggressive as it was.
“When you’re slower, I guess you kind of expect (a bump), but you also think that a guy’s going to race you fair and try to pass you clean first,” said Busch. “I don’t think he (Harvick) ever tried to pass me clean once he got there. He just kept hitting me in the rear bumper each and every time. It was getting increasingly harder.”
However, Busch did leave a hidden warning hanging in the air.
“I wasn’t worried about anything, but if more would have come of that – if there would have been a crash – then it certainly would have been a way different game from here on out.”
