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Kyle Busch was on course to win the second qualifying duel until it all went wrong for the Richard Childress Racing driver. Busch started the qualifying race in fifth position, eventually taking the lead in the race.
Everything seemed to be under control for the No. 8 Chevrolet driver as he led 28 laps of the race. With 20 laps to go, Daniel Suarez’s No. 99 Chevrolet pushed the race leader on the back straight, sending him to the outside wall. This triggered a multi-car crash involving Austin Hill, Travis Pastrana, and Riley Herbst.
Kyle Busch didn’t expect such a shove from Suarez, as he told reporters (via motorsport.com):
“Didn’t see the sense in pushing – it really bothers me. Just a lot of pushing and shoving for a few laps straight, Doing everything you can to try and hang on, and do the best you can to make sure that you keep it straight. Just finally overloaded the left rear and hooked it to the right.”
When Busch spun back across the track, there was no collision. However, the car sustained frontal damage from the initial impact. Busch is likely to race his backup No. 8 for the Daytona 500.
Suarez accepted the blame for the incident, stating that Kyle Larson was behind him and was even more aggressive in the corners. The pressure from the No. 5 driver forced Suarez to push aggressively in the straights. Suarez also believed Busch was dragging his brakes, causing the bumps.
Suarez said (via motorsport.com):
“It was unfortunate, You never want that to happen. I felt like a few laps before that, they told me on the radio that we needed to start making time. The No. 5 [Kyle Larson] was being more aggressive to me, pushing me."
“I thought the No. 8 [Busch] was actually dragging his brakes because I could push him so easily. I guess he wasn’t, but I was getting so much energy from the No. 5 that I was just pushing too hard. I felt like the No. 5 was pushing pretty hard to me, and I was just pushing the No. 8 too hard.”
The incident sent Kyle Busch to the rear end of the grid for the Daytona 500 while Suarez will start in the 24th position.
Kyle Busch's accident ruins open car battle
When Kyle Busch hit the outside wall and bounced back on the track, all the cars dodged the No. 8 car. Many cars took to the grass to avoid a collision, however, Austin Hill’s tires collected grassy debris, causing the No. 62 Chevrolet to spin.
Hill then collided with Travis Pastrana and Riley Herbst. The collision ended Hill’s chances to qualify for Sunday (February 19)’s race.
Pastrana, having qualified for the Daytona 500 grid on Wednesday (February 15), wasn’t upset with the incident. Going into the duels, the Motocross hero wanted to avoid any such incidents in the race.
Pastrana said (via nascar.com):
“We were just cruising around back just trying to avoid exactly what happened.”
“Good information going forward and I had a blast. It was super intense.”
Kyle Busch, a two-time Cup Series champion, has never won the Daytona 500 in 17 entries. The 37-year-old will provide some entertainment for the crowd on Sunday moving up the grid.
