It was wrong place, wrong time for Kyle Busch in Sunday’s rain-postponed NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coke Zero 400 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.
Busch’s No. 18 Interstate All Battery Center Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) was one of several cars caught up in a multicar melee on the backstretch on lap 97. The incident, which started in front of Busch, collected the No. 18 and sent him spinning before he rolled upside down and landed on his roof on the apron of the racetrack. After workers turned Busch’s green and white striped car back over, he was unable to drive it back to the garage.
Busch was uninjured in the 26-car incident, but the No. 18 was too heavily damaged to continue the race. He was relegated to a 28th-place finish.
“It just felt like a slow carnival ride,” said Busch, who won this race in 2008. “I guess that’s fitting for the Fourth of July weekend – but not here in Daytona. It’s just unfortunate. I don’t have any clue what happened. Somebody got squirrelly. I saw the 5 (Kasey Kahne) turn sideways across the field there and then all chaos ensued thereafter. And, the grass is so wet, my stuff just augured in, started turning right and going back up the racetrack. I just wish it would have stayed straight. If it would have stayed straight, I might have had an opportunity to get through there and not be too banged up. But then, I just got T-boned there at the end and it just kind of toppled me over.
“The Interstate All Battery Center Camry was in a good position much of the day and I thought we had a shot to end up decent, and we were just kind of playing it out, seeing what the weather was going to do. I just hate that’s how our day ended.”
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