Ten cars pile up as Kurt Busch crashes out of the race lead
Kurt Busch’s streak of 22 lead-lap finishes came to an end at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday.
Photo by: Action Sports Photography
Busch had just passed Joey Logano for the lead on Lap 371 when he got loose and was tapped by the No. 22 Ford coming out of Turn 2.
“I think I just missed the bottom groove by a few inches, got loose and the wreck was on,” Busch said. "The way that our car was restarting it felt comfortable, it felt good. That inside with the rosin and the VHT if you don’t hit it exactly right you lose a lot of time. \I tried to make up for it and got loose. I feel really bad for the Monster Energy guys. We had a win in our sights and I just drove the car at 101 percent instead of that 99.”
Busch went sideways and collected Brad Keselowski with the field plowing into the wreck from behind on the backstretch. Chase Elliott hit Matt Kesenth, sending the No. 20 sideways. Ryan Blaney, who had no where to go, T-boned Kenseth in the process.
"Something happened to the 41 in front of us. He got sideways. I don't know if he had contact with Joey or if he just got loose, but once he got sideways, I never saw it and I was in his door. Heavy hit - I hope Kurt's alright. I guess I hit him more in the left-rear than in the door. It's shame. We had working on our Ford and we've gotten it up toward the front. We had a lot of short-run speed. If it played out that way in the end, we would have had a shot at it. But that wasn't the case. Bummer day for us."
"Kurt spun out. I saw the cars wrecking," said Kenseth. "Chase got me from behind and turned me in the fence. Not sure what Blaney was doing. Not sure he lifted. he just finished us off. So wrong place at the wrong time."
Jimmie Johnson, Paul Menard and Kyle Larson also received damage, but continued on. Logano was leading the race when it returned to green.
Busch, who would have been black-flagged for jumping the restart, entered the weekend third in the standings. The No. 41 has been running at the finish of every race since the fall Charlotte race in 2014.
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