"I wrecked a teammate": When Kyle Busch admitted to feeling 'horrible' for compromising Matt Kenseth's race in 2016

During the playoff race at Phoenix in 2016, Kyle Busch asked his JGR teammate Matt Kenseth for a favor, which the latter declined. Busch had asked Kenseth to choose the inside lane.

However, Busch, who was eyeing a spot in the Championship 4, made contact with Alex Bowman on an overtime restart. This sent Bowman into the back of Kenseth, which ended up spinning the JGR driver out while ensuring that the #18 driver made it to Homestead.

Following the race, Busch owned up to the means by which he landed his Championship 4 spot, which essentially came at the cost of Matt Kenseth.

"Essentially, I guess I wrecked a teammate. I feel horrible about it. … Right now, it feels really (expletive), but tomorrow it might feel a lot better. … The #20 should have been the Gibbs car to (advance)," Busch said.

The JGR driver joined Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards, and Joey Logano in the lineup of drivers who contested the 2016 Cup championship. Had Busch won the 2016 Cup title, he would've become the first driver since Johnson to win it back-to-back.

But in the penultimate race of the season, it turned out to be Johnson who sealed the deal to win his historic 7th Cup title. Kyle Busch would have to wait a couple more seasons to win his second Cup championship as he did so in 2018 with the #18 car.

Matt Kenseth understood what Kyle Busch did at Phoenix to advance to Championship 4 in 2016

After the playoff race at Phoenix, Matt Kenseth opened up on Kyle Busch compromising his race for the latter's personal gain. Kenseth said that he assumed there was 'a good possibility' that Busch would take the bottom lane.

"I'm sure he felt like the biggest threat to beat him was me, and if he could get me on the outside and have some guys behind him he hadn't had to race with most of the day, his chances were probably going to be better. Common sense tells you that's the right thing to do," Kenseth commented.

Kenseth opened up on his philosophy with teammates which dictated that one should always help their teammates until it doesn't hurt one's own goal. And in Busch's case, Kenseth admitted that there was 'a good chance' that the #18's own effort was at risk of being beaten by his own teammate.

Kenseth added that in that scenario, one would try to do all they can to win a race, which is what a racecar driver is paid for by the sponsors and is supposed to do, even in the eyes of a team owner.