Kyle Busch owned up to wrecking Chase Elliott. ‘Rowdy nation will have my back’
Kyle Busch didn’t try to play the blame game following a late-race wreck Wednesday night at Darlington Raceway.
The defending NASCAR Cup champion owned up to his mistake after putting Chase Elliott into the wall along the front-stretch late in the Toyota 500.
“Obviously I just made a mistake, misjudged the gap, sent him into the wall,” Busch said. “That was entirely unintentional. Yeah, I mean, I’ll definitely reach out to him and tell him I’m sorry, tell him I hate it that it happened. All I can do. That doesn’t change the outcome of the night. I hate it for him and his guys, yeah.”
Busch was in third, running two-wide about a half-car length behind Elliott when Elliott started to pull away. Busch appeared to try to merge directly behind Elliott just across the start-finish line on with 28 laps remaining when he clipped the back of the No. 9 Chevorlet, spinning Elliott into the wall and out of the race.
Busch finished the rain-shortened race in secod place behind Denny Hamlin while Elliott fell to 38th. The race was called after the caution with 20 laps remaining.
Eilliott, upset following the incident, shot Busch the middle finger as Busch’s No. 18 drove by on the caution.
Busch said he didn’t see Elliott’s gesture and thought NASCAR had “thought we had protocols where we’re not supposed to do that.”
Alan Gustafson, Elliott’s crew chief and Busch’s former crew chief, waited by Busch’s car after the race and had words with his former driver. One of Busch’s crew members sat between them along the wall on pit road and NASCAR sent security to make sure nothing escalated.
“I don’t think he intentionally wrecked us but you get tired of coming out on the short end of those deals,” Gustafson said on the FS1 TV broadcast. “I certainly feel we were in position to win that race and Denny was on old tires. … (Busch’s) explanation is accurate but it doesn’t change it. These guys worked their tails off of their NAPA Chevy and deserved to win the race.”
Busch and Elliott’s accident was the talk of conversation following the race by drivers and social media. But this was far from Busch’s first time involved with NASCAR controversy.
He’s a lightning rod for fans who either love his antics or despise him.
Elliott, on the other hand, is one of the sport’s most popular drivers and the son of Hall of Famer Bill Elliott. Busch said he isn’t bothered by any vitriol that comes his way.
“I can say whatever I can say,” the Las Vegas native said. “I’ve never been a very good politician anyways. His fan base is going to have the hatred for me anyways. I just deal with what I got to deal with. Rowdy Nation will have my back and we’ll go after it after that.”
Busch said he will try to reach out to Elliott and that they had a cordial relationship before Wednesday.
