SONOMA, Calif. – About half an hour into Friday afternoon's final practice, Kyle Busch had to pit after his No. 18 M&M's Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota hit a jackrabbit while driving a practice lap on the Sonoma Raceway road course.
The damage to Busch's Toyota was enough his team had to make repairs. Blood was on the front bumper of his car as he drove into the pits.
Busch could only shake his head at the bizarre incident. He recalled seeing the rabbit and hoping that the animal would run across the track quickly. And safely.
"I am a huge Bugs Bunny fan," Busch told FS1. "That's not what we intended to do at all today."
Animal encounters have happened before. Dale Earnhardt famously hit a seagull in the 1991 Daytona 500. Jeff Burton hit a bird in the Brickyard 400 in 1998.
Two weeks ago at Michigan International Speedway, a groundhog got loose on the track during NASCAR XFINITY Series practice causing a 10-minute delay.
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