Busch brothers, playoff underdogs suffer difficult debut in Chicagoland

By Aaron Bearden, Motorsports Editor

JOLIET, Ill. — From crashes to pit road penalties, Sunday proved to be a difficult day for many drivers in the 16-car Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoff field.

Jamie McMurray spun out early before rallying to finish 10th. Kyle Busch dominated early only to finish 15th after being trapped a lap down by a loose wheel and a penalty for a crew member jumping over the wall too soon on his stop. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. hit the wall early and sped on pit road late en-route to a 25th-place result.

The Richard Childress Racing duo of Austin Dillon and Ryan Newman struggled, falling a lap down early and limping home with finishes of 16th and 23rd. Kurt Busch pitted with a vibration only to be hit by a speeding penalty and finish 19th. Kasey Kahne qualified poorly on Friday and never rebounded in a 21st-place run.

All things told, it was a challenging day for nearly half of the playoff grid, but some were hurt much worse than others due to the advantage of playoff points.

Kyle Busch’s run came with a twist of irony as his pit crew – which he was given in a swap with teammate Daniel Suarez’s No. 19 crew ahead of the playoffs for the sake of performance – ultimately committed the error that ended his day. But the good news for the 2015 Cup Series champion is that the run was of little consequence for his No. 18 team. The team would have lost little ground regardless due to their 29 playoff points for the Round of 16, but the myriad issues for his competitors meant that Busch actually increased his advantage over the playoff bubble, leaving Chicagoland with a 35-point gap separating himself and elimination.

While the younger Busch brother was unhurt by his issues, the elder Kurt Busch’s playoff run is in jeopardy. The Daytona 500 winner’s 19th-place run dropped him into a tie with Dillon for the final position in the Round of 12 with 2026 points.

Dillon left disappointed with his placement in the standings, citing his own mistake as the reason his team failed to capitalize on a strong No. 3 Chevrolet.

“It’s just frustrating,” Dillon said. “I put ourselves in a hole speeding on pit road and just trying to get too much. You talk about not making mistakes, and we made one.

“We had a really good race car truthfully. It was a top 10 car for sure, maybe top 5. We got behind. We were two laps down. We got one back. Racing the No. 18 (Kyle Busch), he’s a hard one to beat for the Lucky Dog. I had him for a long time. But, there were just no cautions today. We needed more cautions. It went green a lot.”

Stenhouse’s difficult day was enough to make up for his 10 playoff points going into the postseason, dropping the Roush Fenway Racing driver outside of top 12 in 14th, four points outside of the cut line. Kahne sits one point back in 15th, with Newman sitting last on the playoff grid in 16th.

Next up for the Cup Series playoffs is New Hampshire Motor Speedway, with Dover International Speedway completing the Round of 16.

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Standings Leaving Chicagoland Speedway