Kyle Busch says Cup title is gone

Busch led the series going into the Chase, but was only classified 34th at Loudon a week ago and retired from last night's race at Dover with an engine failure.

He tried to keep going and nurse his car when it started smoking quarter of the way through the race, but on lap 172 of 400 he was forced to pit when oil started dripping into the cockpit.

His mechanics tried to get the car back into the race, but Busch eventually decided to call it a day. He was classified last, which also puts him at the bottom of the Chase standing, 210 points behind leader Carl Edwards.

"We're out of the title hunt, that's for sure," said a disappointed Busch. "So we'll just manage what we can."

"At this point (the championship) doesn't matter. The same thing happened two years ago, the exact same thing. We wrecked at Loudon and blew up here. So, where did we end up? Dead last."

Busch's crew chief Steve Addington revealed that a lifter or a valve spring failed, causing the engine to expire shortly before the halfway mark of the race.

He says the team now need to stand up from two consecutive bad weekends where faulty parts have put an end to their title hopes.

"We've got to do it as a team, we've got to step up. "We can take chances now and win races and show them that it was just bad parts that got us," said Addington.

"It was human error on the first one at Loudon. This right here, Mark Cronquist (Joe Gibbs Racing's engine builder) and his guys have been bullet proof all year long. If anybody says anything about our engine department tell them to come and see me."

Although it is possible that Busch could get back in the championship hunt, no driver has ever overcome such a deficit following the first two races of the Chase.

In 2006, Jimmie Johnson made an impressive comeback from 136 points behind Jeff Burton after the first two races of the Chase to win his maiden Sprint Cup title eight weeks later at Homestead.

In that same year, Busch had a similar start to his Chase and finished the season last among the title contenders.