Kyle Busch’s frustration at Bristol Motor Speedway manifested itself in multiple ways Sunday, with a trade-off of in-race bumping incidents with Riley Herbst but also with some over-the-air tension on the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing team’s radio.
Busch, an eight-time NASCAR Cup Series winner at the 0.533-mile Tennessee oval, finished two laps down in 25th place in Sunday’s Food City 500. He triggered the last of nine yellow flags on the 498th of 505 laps after making sustained contact with Herbst, Busch’s foil in an earlier incident that sent his No. 8 RCR Chevrolet spinning.
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RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Bristol
During the caution period for the first Busch-Herbst incident, the No. 8 team communications became animated as Busch toiled in 26th place. Radio frustrations had mounted through the race’s first half, with Busch, first-year crew chief Jim Pohlman and spotter Derek Kneeland all striving to solve the No. 8 Chevrolet’s handling problems — with Busch specifically asking for help with rear grip.
Earlier in the race, Pohlman had called for adjustments to tighten the car up, but Busch struggled to make forward progress. On Lap 277, Pohlman asked for feedback from Kneeland: “What is the freakin’ problem now? Is the thing sideways or is it plowing? What the (expletive) does it look like?”
After getting a response of “still not getting into the corner,” Pohlman pressed: “Why? I don’t get it. We tightened it up and why can’t it get in the [expletive] corner?” Kneeland replied: “I don’t know. I’ve got a headset on, not a helmet. I don’t know.”
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Busch spun after a Herbst run-in on Lap 313, but continued after slight contact with the trailing car of Erik Jones. During that yellow, Kneeland radioed in: “Listen, I know you’re frustrated. I don’t like running 30th either, but us yelling at each other during the race isn’t going to help [expletive]. Like we’ve gotta keep the glue molded together here. We’re all still in it together and it’s not over. We’re only barely halfway through this thing. … You copy?”
“Yeah, copy,” Pohlman replied. “Just same [expletive] every week.”
Busch’s radio was relatively quiet after the second incident with Herbst’s No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota. There was resignation over the No. 35 team radio after that contact: “Well, third time’s the charm.”
Busch ranks 24th in Cup Series standings, mired in one of the slowest starts of his career. Since winning the pole position for the season-opening Daytona 500, Busch has managed a best 2026 finish of 12th place at the Circuit of The Americas road course. Sunday’s result at Bristol was his fourth consecutive finish outside the top 20.
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“Not the finish any of us wanted for the No. 8 Bank OZK Chevrolet here this afternoon at Bristol Motor Speedway,” Busch said post-race. “We battled the rear of the car the entire race, and despite the best efforts of the team, we got a lap down in the third stage and were never able to get back that track position. We‘re going to keep putting in the work, and hopefully that begins to translate next weekend in Kansas.”
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