It’s the pits: Over-the-wall crew costs Kyle Busch

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Kyle Busch won eight races, led 1,427 laps and, along with Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr., was considered a heavy favorite to win a second NASCAR Cup Series championship.

But the Las Vegas native let the race he needed slip away, and champion Joey Logano pounced.

Busch, Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. comprised NASCAR’S “Big Three” this season, but it was a “Big 0” for the trio in the Cup finale Sunday at Homestead-miami Speedway. In Busch’s case, his Joe Gibbs Racing pit crew flubbed two stops — the blunders cost him six and four spots, respectively, off pit road — that denied one of NASCAR’S biggest career winners a second title.

“We were so bad tonight on the racetrack and on pit road that nothing was kind of going our way,” Busch said of his No. 18 Toyota. “It was just not all there the way that we needed it to.”

At the end of the first stage, lug nuts were not properly secured to the right front tire that slowed the stop and cost Busch key track position. On a later stop, the air hose got stuck under the front of the car as the pit crew worked on the left side.

Front tire changer Cam Waugh — wearing a firesuit as green as the M&M’S paint scheme — played a pivotal role in both mistakes. With his firesuit stripped to his waist, Waugh trudged through the garage and apologized to a JGR official at the hauler. Waugh tossed his gear into a locker and angrily shouted “No!” when asked for comment on the overthe-wall crew’s performance.

Gibbs, the Super Bowl and NASCAR champion, was diplomatic about the errors.

“We were just off today. Tough day for us,” Gibbs said. “I don’t think you ever really know why. I think you’ve got to study all that. It was kind of small things here that slowed us down. But when we had to have a great pit stop, we had a great pit stop.”

Busch’s crew did atone late in the race with a flawless stop in the No. 1 pit stall gifted to him when teammate and pole winner Denny Hamlin surrendered the spot.

By then, it was too late, and Busch had nothing left on a late restart. The botched pit stops compounded the team’s lack of speed.

“This M&M’S Camry team was really, really good (all season) — just not good enough on the night we wanted the most,” Busch said. “We finished fourth, last of the playoff guys. That’s not what it takes these days.”