Reigning Cup champion Kyle Busch had a tire go down and hit the wall early in Sunday’s Cup race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Busch’s incident brought out the caution on Lap 16 of the 301-lap race. Busch finished last.
As the team discussed the damage on the radio, Busch radioed: “Just go home.” He drove the car to the garage. Crew chief Adam Stevens requested someone from Goodyear meet him in the garage. Busch made contact with the wall shortly before the tire went down and caused the incident.
Busch is winless in the first 20 races of the season. This ties the deepest into a season he has gone without a win since joining Joe Gibbs Racing in 2008. He went 20 races without a win in 2017. Busch has one win in the last 42 Cup races.
“Just going down the backstretch there and about halfway down the backstretch I felt it go flat and tried to get slowed down enough without taking everybody else running over me behind me down the straightaway,” Busch told NBCSN. “I don’t know, I think there’s a replay of another Pedigree car here a few years ago that blew a right-front tire for absolutely no reason too. Seems to be our luck with the Pedigree car here at New Hampshire. Sorry to all of our fans and all the Pedigree folks. It’s still 2020.”
The 18-car of @KyleBusch ran over some debris at @NHMS and had a cut in the tread of his RF tire, causing him to hit the wall. @JoeGibbsRacing
— Goodyear Racing (@GoodyearRacing) August 2, 2020
.@KyleBusch will have to wait another week for another chance to win in 2020.
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) August 2, 2020
He's out after crashing hard into the Turn 3 wall at @NHMS. @NASCAR is live on NBCSN: https://t.co/wKDI0aNMYn pic.twitter.com/WiGLgR7f6y