Seven-time Bristol winner Kyle Busch found trouble early in Saturday night’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway when he was in the middle of a 15-car wreck on Lap 2.
After starting third, Busch nudged Ryan Blaney’s No. 12 Ford on just the second trip around the .533-mile track. The contact caused Busch’s No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to spin into traffic, where he sustained further damage when Jesse Little and Michael McDowell ran into his No. 18 after it stopped spinning low on the track.
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Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace, Daniel Suarez, Kasey Kahne, JJ Yeley, Matt DiBenedetto, AJ Allmendinger, Landon Cassill, Timmy Hill, Ty Dillon were also involved. Wallace’s No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet sustained too much damage for him to continue.
“I was pissed there for a moment, get out of the car, slammed the roof, then just laughed about it,” Wallace said. “It’s crazy. We can’t even make it two laps? I don’t even know if we made it a lap and then we’re wadded up. It’s just a bummer. I usually sweat pretty easily. Hell, I didn’t even have enough time to sweat.”
Busch brought the No. 18 down pit road multiple times for repairs and ultimately returned to the track two laps down.
It’s been a tough weekend for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver, as he also found early trouble in Friday night’s Xfinity Series race at Bristol; his No. 18 smacked the wall after a tire went down, ending his night after 74 laps.
As it turns out, the wreck was the beginning of another trying evening for Busch. He battled his way back onto the lead lap by the end of Stage 2 and was as high as third by Lap 431 when he clipped Truex Jr. from behind, ending the No. 78 team’s day.
Busch spun a final time with 19 laps remaining in the race and finished 20th.