Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Kyle Busch wins Busch Clash after Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney tangle

R_wKWB0kreVT
A tussle between Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney in the final lap of the Busch Clash gives Kyle Busch a straight shot to victory at Daytona.

Kyle Busch won Tuesday’s Busch Clash, taking the lead on the final corner after Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney made contact battling for the lead.

Elliott was second going into the final chicane on the Daytona International Speedway road course and drove inside Blaney. They made contact, sending Blaney into the wall. Elliott was slowed by the contact, allowing Busch, running third, to get by.

MORE: Busch Clash results

“Neither one of us won, that’s the big one,” Elliott told FS1. “I was close enough to drive it in there. I feel like I’d be mad at myself for not trying. Obviously, I don’t mean to wreck him much less him. Hopefully, he’s not too mad at me. Feel like I’ve got to go for it here in an event like this.”

Said Blaney to FS1: “I hate that it happened. It didn’t work out. We’re just racing hard. I had a little bit fresher tires there. ... I tried to protect and I drove it into the corner really deep to make sure I didn’t get dive-bombed like that. What are you going to do?”

Elliott, who started at the rear for unapproved adjustments before the race, finished second and was followed by Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick and William Byron. Blaney ended up finishing 13th in the 21-car field.

This is Busch’s first race with Ben Beshore as crew chief. Busch split with Adam Stevens after winning only one points race last season.

WHO HAD A GOOD RACE: Kyle Busch found himself in victory lane, leading only the final part of the last lap after the contact between Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney. ... Joey Logano overcame a penalty for not entering pit road single-file that sent him to the rear of the field and still finished third.

WHO HAD A BAD RACE: Martin Truex Jr. finished last in the 21-car field after spinning off the exit of the backstretch chicane while leading and hitting the wall with seven laps to go. ... Kurt Busch finished 19th. He led at one point, but carried too much speed into Turn 1 on a restart and fell to the back of the field.

NOTABLE: Kyle Busch’s victory was the 10th in the Clash for Joe Gibbs Racing, most of any organization.

NEXT: Daytona 500 qualifying takes place at 7:30 p.m. ET Wednesday. The qualifying Duels are Thursday (first race at 7 p.m.) and the Daytona 500 is at 2:30 p.m. ET Sunday.