The procession down pit road post-race was subdued, traditional for the runners-up in the glorious-yet-merciless “Great American Race” — stunning and celebratory for one, dismal and heartbreaking for 39 others. Busch parked the car in line and removed his helmet and head sock. It was a hasty exit from the rubber-tarnished No. 8 Chevrolet after 500 miles, but an exit he can’t make without witnessing the 26-year-old Byron who once drove for Kyle Busch Motorsports in the Craftsman Truck Series performing exuberant donuts in the frontstretch grass.

Busch’s legs return to earth, he removes his mouthguard and meets with his public relations representative. He collects his hat, confirms he has no further media obligations, and begins the walk back to his motorhome through the Xfinity Series garage. En route, the reporters face the difficult job of finding the words to navigate another fresh heartbreak.

What can he say about the team’s rally through this year’s adversity?

“What about it?”

He was in position to capitalize on the restart that mattered most. What did he need for it to have gone right?

“I have no idea. I don’t know what could’ve been done different.”

“I don’t know when it was over per se,” he said of the end of the race. “We got down, we got back in line, we got out of the pits and we were seventh, eighth in line and tried to pick off a couple. Got shucked out of line. Got shoved to the back. I don’t know.”

The pursuit of questioning ends, and Busch walks away after two decades trying to claim the trophy that has eluded him in his NASCAR Cup Series career.

Petree walks behind pit wall toward the garage area, backpack in tow as he prepares to put this race behind him and head to the FOX Sports broadcast booth to help analyze the upcoming Xfinity Series race.

“We felt good about what we had today and it just didn’t work out,” Petree said. “These things, sometimes they work in your favor; sometimes they don’t. They just didn’t tonight. I’ve got to give Kyle a lot of credit. We got caught in a really bad spot with about 10 or 12 laps to go and he was like, the only thing we can do now is just be in a position to avoid the wreck which he knew was coming — then it did happen. And then that restart didn’t work out the way that I think that Kyle had figured it would. I think he probably thought there would have been a third lane forming sooner than it did, and it just didn’t work out.”

At 8:18 p.m. ET — as fitting a time as any for the longtime driver of the No. 18 car — the No. 8 Chevrolet arrives back at its hauler at the hands of Parks, Mchone, Burnett, Alexander and Lombardi. Twenty-hours later than scheduled, it’s time to load this car up and go home. But they sure wish it was being kept in Daytona instead as the centerpiece of the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America.

“I mean, the road crew guys did a great job,” Burnett said. “Everybody at RCR and ECR did a great job of overcoming some adversity this week to give us a car we could contend with after we got wrecked up in the 150 (duel) there. Had a great car for qualifying the car and good car for the 150 and got tore up and brought the backup car out and was capable of winning the race. So that says a lot about our team.

“On the flip side of that, we didn’t do a great job of executing. We’ve got some stuff to clean up on pit road for sure. Had really good speed. Kyle did a great job, drove his butt off all night long and just, disappointing. We had a car we were capable of winning with, and we just didn’t get it done tonight.”
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