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Two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch recorded another top ten finish at Richmond Raceway despite being smacked with a black flag on lap 345.
NASCAR black-flagged Kyle Busch after they noticed red and green tape on his grille, which is highly prohibited when it comes to Next Gen cars. However, what caught the attention of many in Busch's penalty was that the tape was placed on lap 128 but came to the attention of NASCAR’s official on lap 234.
Despite the issue being raised on lap 234, NASCAR still held on until lap 345 for them to penalize him, something that really annoyed the driver.
NASCAR authorities' failure to notice the error surprised one of the fans who went ahead on Twitter and stated that:
"You mean to tell me Kyle Busch’s crew put tape on 200 laps ago and NASCAR officiating didn’t catch it until now?Rules are rules but it should have been called WAY sooner."
Following so many answered questions from the team, NASCAR recently came out to say what happened. While explaining the delay, Cup Series MD Brad Moran spoke to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, stating:
“We certainly needed to do our due diligence on how it got there and what it really was. So we went back while the race was going on obviously and did our due diligence to ensure, first of all, that the team placed the tape on the grille area.”
On Twitter, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio interviewed Managing Director Brad Moran about the Kyle Busch issue, stating that:
"Once everything was sorted out, we did see how it happened and where it was and the crew chief was notified that it has to be removed.”
The No. 18 driver was in sixth place when he was black-flagged and was looking for a way into the top three slots. Busch was fighting for his turn after his Joe Gibbs teammates had already grabbed the lead multiple times.
Kyle Busch has the most top ten finishes in the 2022 season
With less than 60 laps remaining, his hopes of taking the lead were shattered. The pit stop pulled him from a top-five finish as he lost two laps and he couldn’t maintain his teammates' pace. After a tough race, he managed to finish ninth.
Kyle Busch’s racing team, Joe Gibbs Racing, dominated the Richmond race with some of its drivers leading several laps, including Martin, Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin, finally closing the chapter with the victory.
With a ninth-place finish, his top-ten tally has increased to four, with the most top ten finishes at the moment. The veteran has not yet collected any wins.
