With an Xfinity Series race at Bristol, you had to expect that Kyle Busch wasn’t going to miss this one. It was Busch’s first race back in the series since Watkins Glen a few weeks ago, where he had the suspension problem.
This time around, Busch was looking to put that behind him and win at a track where he has been so successful. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver had the pole for a short while before being bumped to the second starting position.
In what would look like his usual dominating fashion, Busch led the first 59 laps of the race before finishing seventh in Stage 1 after making a pit stop under green.
By making a pit stop, Busch would restart on the front row before taking the lead over once again on Lap 94. From there he led for most the stage before a freak accident happened for the No. 90 of Ronnie Bassett Jr. The right rear tire ripped out of the car and almost hit race leader Busch.
Talking back and forth with the team, Busch believed his car would be okay following the incident. The race went back green and Busch led the rest of the way before problems occurred.
Right after taking the Stage 2 win, Busch reported, “we’re done,” to the team after suffering an engine failure. The engine failure relegated him to a 29th place finish after leading 137 laps.
“It all of sudden started about five or six laps before the stage ended,” Busch said in his interview with NBCSN. “Just coming off the corner, I got back to the gas and it broke. I was just trying to limp it home and that’s all she had. Tough day for our Juniper Supra, it was really fast, really good. We’re always good here. It’s nice to have a solid run, but man these guys have had a bad month.”
It was Busch’s second straight DNF of the season. Busch only has one more start in the Xfinity Series before the Playoffs begin.
