Kyle Busch ready to 'regroup and focus' on Phoenix race after 'hindered' race at Las Vegas

Kyle Busch finished in the top 15 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Martin Truex Jr. and the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing team decided to put everything on the line in Sunday's race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

When a late caution set up a two-lap race to finish, crew chief James Small decided to keep Truex out on the track. Before the caution, he was running in the top five.

The rest of the lead lap cars pitted, with the majority opting for two tyres, leaving Truex alone on the track.

Truex held firm on the restart, but was unable to keep William Byron at bay into Turn 3. He lost several more positions on the final lap, but still finished seventh, giving him his first top-10 finish of the season.

Truex faced a similar decision last year, opting to put tyres ahead of the green-white-checkered finish. He came in eighth place in that race.

Outside observers may have thought pitting was obvious, but his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin did just that. Despite starting on the outside of the second row, he was shuffled back outside the top 10 before the checkered flag.

Byron took the lead on the second-to-last lap of overtime, closing off a dominant day for Hendrick.

Hendrick Motorsports' top three drivers were Byron, Larson, and Alex Bowman, who drove their Chevrolets across the finish line in that order.

Byron, who started alongside Joey Logano in the first row, won both stages for the first time in his career. Truex and Kevin Harvick also won both stages in Las Vegas, in 2017 and 2018, respectively.

Kyle Busch of Richard Childress Racing cracked the top 15 and finished 14th for this team. During the post-race interview, he said:

“I’m proud of everyone at Richard Childress Racing for their hard work today. We started the race fifth in our Alsco Chevrolet and battled a tight-handling condition right off the bat. Crew chief Randall Burnett and the guys worked on the handling of our Chevy throughout the day, but long green-flag runs hindered our opportunities.

"When we did pit, the No. 8 team performed and gained us spots on pit road. We just never seemed to get the balance to where it needed to be to contend for the win. We’ll take this 14th-place finish, regroup, and focus on Phoenix Raceway.”

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Kyle Busch makes a big dig at Joe Gibbs before revealing Chase Elliott's injury return

Kyle Busch

Kyle Busch's departure from Joe Gibbs Racing last year was difficult after 15 years of association. It was far from a pleasant breakup.

The two-time Cup Series champion, Busch has made his feelings known on numerous occasions. In keeping with this cold feud, he recently took a shot at the owner of Joe Gibbs Racing.

Kyle Busch has spent enough time in the sport to understand the dynamics both on and off the track. He has been injured several times during his stellar career. He recently expressed his thoughts on Chase Elliott's latest injury.

Busch described how intense it was and how he had attempted to assist Elliott. During the interview, he appeared to take a jab at Joe Gibbs while recounting his own experience with injuries while on the JGR team.

He then opened a direct attack on Joe Gibbs. Speaking on how Gibbs tried to restrict his off-NASCAR activities, Kyle Busch said:

“I feel I got a lot more leverage at JGR when I got hurt in a JGR car. I was always racing late models and some other stuff but I told Joe. He was always like, 'Don’t do that stuff, we don’t need you to get hurt'. Well, I got hurt in his car so I had a lot to say, or a lot of power I guess after that fact."