Kyle Busch looked like he was in perfect position to win his first Bluegreen Vacations Duel driving the No. 8 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing.
Instead, the race ended in disaster, leaving a potential 2023 Daytona 500-winning car a pile of scrap metal.
Busch led a race-high 28 laps and was out front on lap 42 when second-place Daniel Suarez bumped him a little too hard on the backstretch. It sent Busch turning hard right, slamming into the outside wall and bouncing back in front of traffic.
“I don’t know why,” Busch said. “We were single file. There was no pressure from the outside. There was nothing happening. Just getting pushed for two straight laps and finally, it didn’t want to hang on anymore.”
Suarez soldiered on to finish seventh and was apologetic after the incident, making clear he’ll talk to Busch and clear the air before Sunday’s (Feb. 20) Daytona 500.
“It was unfortunate,” Suarez said. “You never want that to happen. Two laps before that, they told me on the radio, I want you to start making time. The No. 5 [Kyle Larson]was being more aggressive to me, pushing me, and I thought that the No. 8 was actually dragging brake because I was able to push him so easy.
“But I guess he wasn’t. I was getting so much energy from the [No.] 5 that I was just pushing too hard.”
Busch has never won the Daytona 500 in 17 career starts; only Martin Truex Jr. has a longer drought in the Great American Race among active drivers.
Full Driver Interviews on the Multi-Car Wreck:
YouTube:
Twitter:
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at …