Pit mistakes costly for Kyle Busch

Kyle Busch says he'll have to talk to owner Joe Gibbs about the status of his pit crew going forward.

"We all made this decision together, so we're all in it together," Busch said about the Lap 96 penalty that took away his opportunity to win at Chicagoland Speedway.

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Busch was the driver to beat for much of the Tales of the Turtles 400 weekend. Fastest in two of the three practice sessions and the pole winner, a loose wheel started a chain of events that relegated Busch to a 15th-place finish.

Dominant in the first 80 laps of Sunday's race, Busch went unchallenged and picked up his 12th stage win of the year. But a few laps after losing the lead to Kevin Harvick in Stage 2, Busch told his team he had a loose wheel. Pitting under green flag conditions, Busch fell a lap off the pace.

He then lost a second lap when he was penalized for his crew being over the wall too soon. Although he regained one lap by himself, Busch then repeatedly found himself in the free pass position for the remainder of the race - only the caution that would give him his lap back never materialized.

"Got to move on. Nothing we can do now," Busch said after the race.

The replay of the penalty showed it was the gas man who had his foot over the wall before Busch had pulled into the box. The penalty not only took away Busch's chances of winning the race, but was highlighted by the fact that earlier this week the crew who has pitted the No. 18 all year was swapped with the No. 19 of rookie Daniel Suarez, who did not qualify for the Playoffs.

Fortunately for Busch, he remains above the cutline with two races to go in the Round of 16. He also banked another critical playoff point (moving his total to 30) by winning a stage. When asked if days like Sunday is where the new championship system and playoff points will help, Busch said yes, but with a price.

"Three top 15s should transfer you through this first round, but 15th is going to hurt on the points that you're going to need," Busch said. "Stage points [and] wins for that third round."