“Fight Like Hell” – Kyle Busch Motivated to Prove His Own Prediction Wrong at the Charlotte Roval

Published 10/09/2020, 8:00 AM EDT

If Kyle Busch is to get through the Round of 12 of the Playoffs and make the final eight, he will need to do something he hasn’t before. Busch needs a strong performance in the playoff race at the Charlotte Roval if he is to overcome a 21-point deficit in the elimination race.

Even before the current round kicked off, a frustrated Busch said he ‘will be eliminated’ in this round. Despite that being a serious possibility at Charlotte, Busch said he is ready to fight it out at a track where he has had multiple bad races in the past.

“That’s tongue-in-cheek talk and should be known as that. Coming from me, obviously. I say a lot of dumb (expletive),” Busch said during a media interaction. “It is what it is. And we’re going to go on this week and fight like hell and try to make it through.”

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What Kyle Busch feels he needs to do at the Charlotte Roval

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Busch has entered the next round of Playoffs despite facing elimination in the cutoff race, on three past occasions. However, he has never done it from as many as 21 points behind the cutoff spot. He finished in 32nd and 37th places in the 2018 and 2019 playoff races at the Charlotte Roval.

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While the Roval is another track that can throw in a lot of surprises, Busch said the key is to ‘stay out of trouble’.

“We’ve just got to keep ourselves out of trouble. That’s hard to do on such a tight circuit with a lot of stuff going on and a lot of guys making desperation moves. And us needing to make some desperation moves as well most likely,” Busch said of his chances on Sunday.

A lot to fight for at the Charlotte Roval

The defending champion has a lot at stake this Sunday. The weight of extending his streak of 15 straight seasons with a win is still heavy on Busch. At the same time, if he is eliminated, he will become the first reigning champion who failed to make the Round of 8 since the onset of the Playoffs system in 2014.

Busch starts in ninth place at the Charlotte Roval. If he can indeed pull off a win at a track where he has suffered a record, that sets him up perfectly with just four more races remaining.

How the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Contenders Will Line up at the Charlotte Roval

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Aayush Majumdar is a NASCAR content strategist, a Tennis Writer, and a sports analyst at EssentiallySports. He is well-tenured as a tennis and NASCAR writer, with over 900 articles across both sports. After pursuing a Post Graduate program in Sports Management, Aayush explored various roles in Sports Media, including a Sports Reporting role at a leading English daily.