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FONTANA, Calif. — Stewart-Haas Racing driver Kurt Busch will go to a backup entry for Sunday’s Auto Club 400 after the former series champion made contact with the wall during Saturday’s opening practice session. The means the SHR driver will start from the rear of the field — and so will AJ Allmendinger, whose team changed a rear gear.
“It just kind of got loose and sucked him in,” Greg Zipadelli, competition director at Stewart-Haas Racing, said as the No. 41 team began preparing a second entry for Busch. The veteran had completed 29 laps and was 15th fastest overall prior to the incident.
While there appeared to be only minimal body damage to the Chevrolet, Zipadelli said the contact “cleaned the whole right side.”
“It bent the splitter bar down, bent the lower control arm. It hit really flat … moved the deck lid over.
“It would take all damn day to fix it and I don’t know if it would be right. At a place like this, you don’t want to take (chances).”
Busch qualified 26th on Friday at ACS. Because of the car change, he will drop to the rear prior to the start of Sunday’s 200-lap race (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
A second practice for Sprint Cup teams is scheduled for 2:30-3:25 p.m. ET today, giving Busch and the team an opportunity to get on the track with the backup car.
The only other incident saw Richard Petty Motorsports driver Aric Almirola also make contact with the wall, however damage to the No. 43 Ford wasn’t severe enough to warrant going to a backup.