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Michigan was another huge blow for Joe Gibbs Racing driver Kyle Busch after his #18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry TRD was wrapped up in a messy wreck on lap 25. Busch began his day in P3 and seemed to have everything under control, but things got heated before he could even finish the first stage.
NASCAR waved its first competitive caution on lap 20, where several drivers made pit stops, but some like JJ Yeley decided not to pit. After a restart on lap 25 in Turn 2, Yeley’s #15 Ford Mustang got loose, Michael McDowell shoved it from behind, Aric Almirola made right-side contact, and a massive wreck exploded, tagging several cars. Austin Cindric was sent hard into the wall and was done for the day.
Following his early race retirement, Kyle Busch scored a P36 finish, sitting ahead of Austin Cindric, who sealed the Michigan results with a P37 finish. This marked Kyle Busch’s eighth consecutive event to finish outside the top-ten charts.
After a disappointing finish at Michigan, Busch said that he really had a fast Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry, and he was looking forward to a good finish, but the results turned out to be the opposite of his expectations. He said:
“We had a really fast Interstate Batteries Camry. I mean it was looking really good for the day and obviously not a good result. Just got squeezed between the 10 spinning and myself and the fence. Just don’t get it, man. Just can’t buy a break right now.”
Kyle Busch had pitted in the previous caution on lap 20 and started outside the top ten. Still, unfortunately, his #18 Toyota was also collected from the scene and sustained serious damage that led to his early race retirement.
Kyle Busch's performance in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season
Kyle Busch had an extremely successful first half of the 2022 season and even scored his first win of the season at Bristol Dirt, where he marked his 60th career win. However, he sealed the first half of the season on the wrong foot, scoring a 30th finish at Sonoma. He didn't start off the second half of the season any better, scoring a P26 finish in Nashville.
His best chance to break the long series of disappointing performances was at Pocono Raceway, where he secured P2 in the qualifying race and went on to retain the same position at the M&M’s Fan Appreciation 400 the following day.
However, his second-place position only lasted for a few hours before it was handed over to another driver after his car failed a post-race inspection. After being stripped of his P2 position, Busch settled into P36 in the same position he secured at the recently concluded Michigan race.
