Kyle Busch wasn't pleased with the outcome of Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup race, finishing as runner-up after getting shoved out of the lead by teammate Carl Edwards on the final lap.
But Busch didn't say anything negative about his teammate in his television and news conference appearances following the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway. In fact, in his Sprint Cup post-race interviews, he barely dealt with the issue at all.
MORE: Richmond race photos | Carl Edwards wins with last-lap Richmond pass
Busch led 78 laps in the race and held the edge heading into the final lap. Edwards, who had his own stellar afternoon with 150 laps led, loomed on his bumper. Then, with traffic in front of them, in Turn 3 Edwards bumped the inside of Busch's car, shoving his teammate toward the wall as he slipped sideways. Edwards stormed into the lead — and the win.
Busch settled for second, climbing from his car as Edwards leapt from his car for his traditional winning backflip on the frontstretch.
Well, that was a crazy finish .. and @SamanthaBusch (understandably) wasn't crazy about it. 😦 #NASCAR @RIRInsiderhttps://t.co/XCQCcLtkjy
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) April 24, 2016
In the moments following the race, Busch avoided wading into any controversy with his teammate.
Whatever his immediate emotions were, Busch kept them to himself. He avoided coming under fire for skipping an interview this time, though, appearing on both TV and in the media center as required.
He just didn't allow much in those.
MORE: Kyle's full comments
"It's racing, I guess," he said on the Fox broadcast immediately after the race. "We had a really great car. … We were fast. Maybe not as good as Carl was on the long runs, but we did everything right, we did everything we were supposed to do and put ourselves in the right position. [Crew chief Adam Stevens] made some awesome adjustments to this car. We lost it there the second-to-last run, we were fading a little bit, but guys gave me an awesome pit stop, got me the track position, got us out front and we had a shot to win and that's all that matters."
Edwards admitted thinking about making the move on a teammate. But with both already having wins, and therefore being Chase for the Sprint Cup eligible, he made his move.
"Well, yeah, it was a huge question," Edwards said. "Kyle's an amazing teammate and it's like he got really slow there at the end. Something happened that last lap. It was like his rear tires went off or something."
That "something" decided the race.
"He went to get down to the bottom and park it in [Turns] 3 and 4 and I had already decided to go down there so I thought, 'Man, I'm going to give him a little nudge,' " Edwards said.When later taking questions in the media center, Busch stuck to one refrain, refusing to weigh in on Edwards when asked.
"Second-to-the-last run, we were fading a little bit," he said in his opening remarks. "We had some real good speed. The adjustments Adam made certainly helped our car a lot, got us into the position we needed to be.
"The pit stop there at the end, my guys ripped off an awesome one there, got us the lead when it mattered most. So that was real important for us and gave us a good opportunity to lead that final segment for as long as we did. Just real proud of the guys, giving it everything we had."
When asked about Edwards and his take on the final lap, he again revisited his former comments. Each time.
"Our Banfield Camry was real awesome today," he said. "We had a great race car. My guys made some awesome adjustments to it. It was really good for us to have an opportunity to run and race for the win like that."
And about Edwards' comments about them both already having a win?
"My guys give me great race cars each and every week," he said. "We continue to have fast Camrys. We'll be continuing to run up front and race for wins."