Kyle Busch the first Chaser to run into trouble at NHMS
Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch made an incredible charge to come back from injury to win four regular-season races and make the Chase for the Sprint Cup, but his title chances took a major hit on Lap 158 of Sunday's Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Busch was running inside the top 10 when a right front tire let go in the middle of the corner, sending the No. 18 Toyota hard into the Turn 4 wall to bring out the fifth caution of the day.
With significant damage to the right side of the car, Busch took the car directly to the Sprint Cup garage to the attention of his JGR crew members, who quickly went to work making repairs.
After a ninth-place finish in the Chase opening race at Chicagoland Speedway, Busch entered Sunday's race at Loudon fourth in the standings with a 21-point advantage over Jamie McMurray, who entered the day 13th.
With no other Chase drivers having significant issues prior to his incident, Busch fell to 40th on the leaderboard as his championship competition continued to race for the win.
Coming back from compound fractures in his right leg and left foot suffered during the season-opening XFINITY Series at Daytona in February, NASCAR granted Busch a waiver to be eligible for the Chase, but he had to make his way into the top 30 in points before the 16-driver field was set.
Thanks in large part to four wins, Busch qualified for the Chase field and started the final 10-race stretch tied for the top spot with Jimmie Johnson. As a result of the incident, Busch dropped into the bottom four of Chase contenders as they were running in the race at the time.
By the time Busch was able to return to the track during the sixth caution of the day after his team made repairs, only 106 laps remained and he was 36 laps behind the leader.
When teammate Matt Kenseth took the checkered flag to earn the fourth-straight victory for JGR, Busch crossed the line 37th, 38 laps down. By finishing the deepest of the 16 Chase drivers, Busch is now 13th in the standings, one point behind Dale Earnhardt Jr.
One of the favorites to make the Championship Round at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Busch will have to run well and possibly win next week's elimination race at Dover International Speedway in order to move on to the Contender Round, which kicks off at Charlotte Motor Speedway in two weeks.
Despite the setback, crew chief Adam Stevens remains confident the team can make it through next weekend's race at Dover and advance to the next round of the Chase.
"Dover is a strong track for us," he said. "I didn’t see the count at the end of the race, but a bunch of guys ran out of gas there. We were going to run third (at Dover) in Kyle’s second race back (from injury) and wrecked with a lap car, you know? I’m sure our cars have gotten better and Kyle’s gotten more in shape and knows what he wants a little better, so there’s no reason we can’t go there and have a good day. But you know things like this happen too. They happen to us and they can happen to anybody else, so it’s not a win at all costs situation at all, which is comforting.”
