Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch blames Tony Stewart for last-lap crash at Daytona
Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch walks with a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series official at the end of the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway. // Jim Fluharty, NASCAR Scene
JOLIET, Ill. – Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch was in no mood to talk Thursday much about Saturday night's last-lap crash, though he did clearly think that Tony Stewart was at fault for the accident.
Busch was leading the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway when contact was made with second-running Stewart. Busch lost control and careened across traffic, sparking a multicar crash and leading Stewart to lament the way in the which he won the race.
Prior to practice for Saturday’s LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway, Busch offered his assessment of how things developed on that final lap.
"I got bumped from behind off of Turn 4, which kind of sent me low a little bit and gathered my stuff up and tried to block high and it was too late, Tony was already alongside," he said.
Busch was asked how he would play out that final lap if he had the chance to do it over again.
"Same way I did," he said. "I don't have it back, it doesn't matter. It's over with, it's done with. It's over. I did everything I could to try to win the race and I didn't."
Stewart spoke with Busch on Tuesday to clear the air over the incident, but that didn't seem to have a noticeable impact on Busch. What did it mean to have Stewart reach out to discuss it?
"I don't know," Busch said. "I really don't have feelings so it really didn't mean a whole lot. I thank him for, I guess, checking on me to see if I was alive."
Asked later Thursday if he had heard Busch's comments, Stewart declined addressing them directly.
"I’ve already seen the transcripts from [Busch's news conference]," Stewart said. " ... I talked to Kyle on I guess it was Tuesday when I spoke to Kyle and had a good conversation with him. That’s the conversation I’m going off of. That’s all I’m going to talk about Kyle."
Busch actually agrees with Stewart's assessment that the wreck was caused by the nature of racing at restrictor-plate tracks.
"It is what he said," Busch said. "It was a racing wreck and it seems to happen more often than not at Daytona and Talladega on the last lap and it is what it is."
Drivers have avoided injuries in the most recent Daytona and Talladega last-lap wrecks. Busch was able to walk away from the crash, where he hit the wall hard and then took hard licks from Kasey Kahne and Joey Logano. Busch got out of his car and walked up pit road before getting a ride to the infield medical center. Busch said Thursday he was not trying to walk to victory lane to talk to Stewart.
Busch does seem to think that NASCAR could help prevent these types of crashes in the future.
"I think NASCAR can take a step in looking at it and if the second-place driver 'dumps' the leader, then black-flag his [butt]," Busch said. "He doesn't get the win. If he's on him from behind and moves him out of the way and there's no wreck, then fine, he can win the race. If you're up alongside a guy and you dump him, then I’d say black-flag him and give the win to the third-place guy."
So, in what category would he put last week's crash?
"It would be considered a dump," he said.
