Wreck takes out Kyle Busch and eliminates him from Chase contention
TALLADEGA, Ala. – Every Chase driver’s nightmare became Kyle Busch’s reality on Sunday. A wreck started by a non-Chase driver took out Busch and whacked what had been an incredibly promising Chase run for Busch.
On lap 102, Aric Almirola ran into JJ Yeley, and the ensuing wreck consumed Alex Bowman and Busch. “We were just all starting to shuffle around there and getting ready to pit, and I think it was the 83 (Yeley) in front of me, and I think he might have been trying to check up to get to the bottom.” Almirola said. “I just barely started to push him and it hooked his car and we all wrecked.”
“We are destroyed,” Busch screamed on the radio. “We are absolutely killed. I got wrecked from behind. We are done. It’s everything.”
Busch’s Chase hopes were destroyed too. Despite his crew’s valiant efforts, he ended up missing the Chase by seven points thanks to the crash. Busch entered the race third in points, the highest driver in the points standings who didn’t win in the second round of the Chase and 26 points ahead of the eighth-place cutoff.
Following the wreck, Busch wheeled the car baclk into the garage area, but because of damage to the front end couldn’t properly point the car into the pit stall. The M&M’s 18 slewed around like an angry dog on a leash, and Busch finally cut the engine, climbed out of the car, and walked into his hauler without a word.
He would remain there while two dozen crew members, including members of Denny Hamlin’s team, worked over the 18 with hammers, saws and more.
“it was really hurt,” team owner Joe Gibbs said on the television broadcast. “We had rear-end damage and got hit from behind … we had to replace the whole front end.”
Finally the crew got the car repaired to the point that it could head back onto the track, nearly 40 laps behind the field to attempt to gain Busch points and help him sneak into the Chase. Thanks to Brad Keselowski’s win and the lack of a bad finish by another driver who entered the race in the top eight, Busch didn’t advance to the third round.
Just like after the crash, Busch walked away from his car silently when the race concluded.
Busch had finished in the top 10 in each of the first five Chase races. But thanks to the crash at Talladega and the new Chase format, an untimely and unlucky crash ruined his hopes for a championship.
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter.
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