“That worked out nice”: Kyle Busch sends across positive radio message after promising Michigan result

Kyle Busch was happy with his top-5 finish at Michigan. After finishing fourth on Monday's FireKeepers Casino 400, the Richard Childress Racing driver lauded his team's strategy, hoping for a win within the next couple of weeks.

It was Busch's first top-5 finish since Dover Motor Speedway in April. The Las Vegas native finished sixth on Sunday before the race was rescheduled due to inclement weather. As it resumed on Monday, Busch took the lead three times for a combined 24 laps, the third-highest number of laps he has led this season, and won Stage 2.

"Well, it's not a win. We got two more shots at it," Busch radioed to his team. "But definitely the best day we've had in a while. Nice job. Good strategy all day. That worked out nice. Just need a little bit more smoke and there will be some fire."

Crew chief Randall Burnett's pit strategy catapulted Kyle Busch to the front of the pack. When Busch parked the No. 8 Chevy on the pit road on lap 167, Burnett gave him two fresh tires instead of four, which allowed him to exit the pit road before race leaders William Byron, Chase Elliott, and Tyler Reddick and maintain his track position.

"We had fresher (tires) lefts and we didn’t need as much fuel," Busch told Frontstretch. "So we only needed two tires at that point. So that was to jump in front of (the leaders) and make them pass us instead of us trying to figure out how to pass them."

With two races to go till the postseason, Kyle Busch sits 17th in the Cup Series standings with 513 points. He is 93 points behind the provisional playoff cutline. The 39-year-old would need a win at Daytona or Darlington to secure a spot in this year's playoffs.

"What the f**k was the 6 doing?" - Kyle Busch responds to Brad Keselowski's unexpected move

As the race went on an overtime restart, RFK Racing driver Brad Keselowski slowed down all of a sudden right when the pack was entering turn 1. Kyle Busch was right behind Keselowski's No. 6 Mustang on the outside and made contact with Keselowski's rear bumper.

The contact from Keselowski resulted in Busch ramming into Ryan Blaney, who was just behind the two-time Cup series champion, collecting Carson Hocevar and Harrison Burton in an accordion-like effect. When NASCAR posted footage of the same, Kyle Busch commented:

"What the F**k was the 6 doing?!"

The move relegated several cars behind the then-race leaders William Byron and Tyler Reddick. A lap later, Reddick cleared the Hendrick Motorsports driver on the inside and won the race. Keselowski, who finished P5, later said he had been experiencing issues with his engine all day.

"We just had a couple of issues today with the engine shutting off," Keselowski said in a post-race interview with Dustin Long of NBC Sports (via On3). "It was frustrating, but it was just part of our day. We were probably that fourth or fifth-place car, and the way the race played out, (Reddick) got by us, and he was really fast. He deserved to win the race."

The drivers will now make a trip to Florida for the Coke Zero Sugar 400, scheduled for August 24 at the famed Daytona International Speedway. The 160-lap race will stream live on NBC with radio updates on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.