“Looked like the fastest car got in a hurry to get to the wreck”, said an irritated Kyle Busch after he got out of the Daytona 500 with only 15 laps. Reason? A major wreck that Ricky Stenhouse Jr and Joey Logano triggered had put him out of contention.
Busch had been critical of how NASCAR played a pivotal role in the DQ. He harped on how the car was in the right condition to reenter the race. However, NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition, Elton Sawyer has been quite vocal about how Busch was responsible for the DQ.
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Did NASCAR procedures force Busch out of contention?
Joey Logano tried to force himself an entry through a block created by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. This is when he lost control and wrecked, involving Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, and even Ryan Blaney. Following the wreck, Busch expressed frustration with NASCAR. He criticized race control for mismanaging its Damaged Vehicle Policy. Rowdy specifically pointed out issues with handling cars that had flat tires at the crash site. He was also highly skeptical about the enforcement of the minimum speed requirement.
After briefly rejoining the track, Busch returned to the garage before the green flag waved. However, confusion over the minimum speed rule ultimately led to his disqualification. However, Sawyer has been quite vocal about how it was a misunderstanding on Busch’s part regarding the rules. He said, “I think it was a misunderstanding on Kyle’s, perspective… What we do on pit road as far as the damaged vehicle policy hasn’t changed from 2024 other than we’re giving an additional minute — it’s now seven minutes versus six. But as far as what our fans, and our competitors, what they witnessed last year in the past five or six years, the DVP policy looks the same on pit road with the adjustments that I mentioned.”
After the DQ was implied, Busch said, ” (NASCAR) towed us into a work area where our guys reviewed the car, looked over the car and didn’t see anything massively wrong. All the wheels were pointed in the right direction. We put four new tires on it to go back out to see what the next process was going to be for us. So what are we supposed to do to continue to work on it now that we have four new tires on it and all the wheels are pointed in the right direction?”
Kyle Busch‘s car had four flat tires. This eventually prevented him from driving back to pit road. NASCAR’s mandated air jack system couldn’t be used because the recovery crew’s air bottle was empty. As a result, officials towed his car to the garage. Once in the garage, Busch’s team assessed the damage and replaced the tires. He then re-entered the track. However, soon returned to the garage before meeting the required minimum speed within three consecutive green flag laps. Under NASCAR’s rules, once a car returns to the garage after rejoining the race, it is automatically eliminated.
Sawyer further added, “The reason that this rule was put in place the way it is was that if we didn’t have a way to basically have an end to the DVP part of it where you could reset, then what would happen is the competitors would go in the garage, work on the car a little bit, go back out, run one lap, come back in. They would do that multiple times, and that’s just kind of circumventing the purpose of the rules. So I think it was clearly just a misunderstanding.” While Busch was seemingly upset about both Logano’s moves and NASCAR’s policies, it seems that the rules were indeed pretty evident and self-explanatory.
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Kyle Busch to race at Rackley Roofing 200
Kyle Busch is all set to run for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race. The drive is scheduled for May 30th at the Nashville Speedway. With a career trajectory of about 66 career wins in the Craftsman Truck Series, Busch will be piloting the No. 07 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports. The race in Nashville is a part of the five-race campaign that Rowdy has embarked on.
Speaking of the same, Busch said, “My schedule will consist of some tracks where I’ve had a lot of success in the Truck Series, like Atlanta, Charlotte and Nashville but also two tracks that I’ve never raced at in a truck – North Wilkesboro and Watkins Glen. So I’m looking forward to hopefully adding a couple more tracks to the list of places where I’ve won across my truck series career.”
With a mix of familiar dominance and new challenges ahead, Busch’s Nashville run could be another step toward solidifying his legacy as one of the most versatile drivers in the Truck Series.