NASCAR Cup Series

Kyle Busch on JGR's performance at Martinsville: 'We gave the 48 car the win'

Published Nov. 15, 2016 3:18 p.m. ET

Chase Wilhelm

It’s official: There won’t be an all-Joe Gibbs Racing Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

After Jimmie Johnson’s victory in Sunday’s Goody’s Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway, there are now three spots up for grabs in the championship round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

That only leaves spots for three of the four JGR drivers, at the very most.

Denny Hamlin led the JGR train at Martinsville on Sunday, finishing fifth, followed by Matt Kenseth in fourth and Busch rounding out the top five.

Kenseth led a race-high 176 laps, but he and the JGR brigade didn’t have enough for Johnson after a late-race battle for position between the three of them allowed Johnson to pull away for the victory.

And according to Kyle Busch, they have nobody to blame but themselves.

“Well, you can’t wreck each other and that’s all there is too it, I guess,” said a dejected Busch after the race. “We worked so good together that we gave the 48 the win today. So, that’s how good JGR is. We had a better car than fifth place today, and we showed that.”

Hamlin battled with Johnson for the top spot throughout the race, but it was Johnson who showed the upper-hand late in the race. Afterward, Hamlin wasn’t too pleased with how the six-time champion raced him.

“You try to do everything you can to hold them off, but you have to be realistic, too, which is why I was so frustrated with the 48 (Johnson),” Hamlin added. “He has to be realistic and know he wasn’t going to be able to hold me off in that amount of time. At the end of the race, I was realistic and let him go there.”

JGR had an incredible regular season, winning 11 of the 26 races. But, the Chase hasn’t been as kind to them, as they are 0-for-7 in the playoffs.

Hamlin knows the pressure is on for the entire organization with only two races remaining in the Round of 8.

“We’re going to root and gouge for every position we can,” said Hamlin. “Every point matters. We’ve seen that in the last round. We’ll go to battle next week.”

After blowing a right-front tire and hitting the Turn 1 wall hard around the Lap 357 mark, Carl Edwards and the No. 19 team was forced to make lengthy repairs in the garage, finishing a dismal 36th.

Edwards will likely having have to win one of the next two races in the Round of 8 at Texas Motor Speedway or Phoenix International Raceway if he wants to make the final round.

Martinsville wasn’t a total loss for the JGR, though, as Hamlin, Kenseth and Busch currently hold the three remaining spots in the Chase standings heading into Texas.

“It’s frustrating to not be higher up,” Busch said. “One race at a time. That’s all you can do. I can’t tell you where we’re going to finish at Texas and how good we’re going to run. You can only take it one race at a time.”

But now we know there will be at least one odd-man-out at Homestead for JGR.