Kyle Busch is devastated as overtime chaos denies him the Daytona 500 trophy
Kyle Busch is the only active multiplies time Cup champion to not to win Daytona 500.
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Kyle Busch (Credits: @rowdyenergy/ Twitter)
Kyle Busch was heartbroken after he missed out on the 2023 Daytona 500. Busch and his new teammate Richard Childress Racing Austin Dillon lined up at the front for the two-lap showdown but got into a multicar crash ending his hopes.
The two times Cup champion marked his RCR debut on Sunday and was solid though out the night. The Chevy front trio of Busch, Dillon, and William Byron had the opportunity to push one among them to the lead and potentially the win, but the HMS driver himself wrecked the veteran. Busch crashed his car during the Duels, and the No:8 Garage had to work overtime to get the Backup car ready on time for Sunday, and the hard work has yielded them more sorrow.
Busch was upset as it was the first in his Cup career that he had led the 200th lap of the Daytona 500. He pointed out that he would have been the real winner if the 1998 rules were still in place. The over-time rule was yet to be introduced back then, and the driver who was in the lead at the time of the final caution was the winner.
“I think this is the first time I led Lap 200. I wish it were 1998 rules. It’s just part of the course. Just used to it. I come down here every year just to find out when and where I’m gonna crash and what lap I come out of the care center. I don’t think you are ever confident,” Kye Busch said.
He doubled down on his opinion on Twitter. He wrote, “If only it was ‘98… Really thought we had that one. Bummed but proud of our 8 group for sticking w it this wknd n giving us a real good backup car. Good things to come to this yr. In case you missed it,”.
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Kyle Busch explains the lap 200 crash
Busch planned to push one another to the front with Byron and Dillon. The plan went out of hand when they separated, and the effort to get back to formation failed. The veteran was spun as both No:3 and No:24 cars came on to him, and defending race winner Austin Cindric making his move in between also didn’t help.
“I was hoping to have a teammate restart where I could get down on the bottom, and then when I got down on the bottom and get all locked up, and (Byron) and (Dillon) and myself would all work together and push and go,” Busch said.
“Looked like it was kind of working, but we got too much separation off of (Turn) 2 and I tried to back up to get to them. When they hit me, it got me really squirrely, and Austin (Cindric) checked up and then it the accordion happens, and everyone gets running over everybody,” Busch added.
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