NASCAR Cup Series
Starting Lineup: NASCAR Cup Series Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas
Sep 9, 2023
Kyle Busch was not happy about a cut tire, which sent his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet into the wall during practice at Kansas Speedway. Busch will start from the rear of the field in the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas.
Kyle Busch will start from the rear of the field in Sunday's Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway after he suffered a crash following a cut right rear tire in Saturday's practice session.
RELATED: NASCAR Cup Series Hollywood Casino 400 Starting Lineup
Here is a video of the incident that will relegate Busch to the rear of the field on Sunday:
For Busch, this marks the fourth time this season that he'll need to start from the rear of the field due to issues with his primary car leading up to the race, and it's the second consecutive week that Busch will have to rally from starting at the rear.
The two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion is getting tired of having to start each race from the rear of the field.
“Just like every other weekend. Always put in a hole,” Busch lashed out in frustration. “Always behind, and have to come and dig ourselves out. Hate it for all of the guys, the car was really good. Had really good longevity, there. We were just running laps — running some pretty good laps, comparatively to the rest of our group that we were with at that time."
Busch and the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing team had gotten their race car comfortable in race trim and had just made the decision to prepare the car for qualifying by going out for another run in practice Saturday at Kansas Speedway. That's when the tire let go, and ruined the day for Busch.
After Busch went into the outside wall with a right rear tire failure, Ty Gibbs suffered the same fate in the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry TRD just minutes later.
Busch was asked if he thought there was an issue with tires heading into the race.
"Seeing as though we just saw another one from another manufacturer, another group, I would say, yeah. But I'm no expert," Busch quipped.
Adding to the frustration for Busch is the fact that while he will start from the 35th position on Sunday, the rest of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff field will roll from inside the top 20.
It's a tough hole to dig out of, but Busch vows that he and the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing team will do just that on Sunday, much like they did a week ago in Darlington.
While Busch crashed in practice, at the time of publishing, the No. 8 team is still making repairs to their primary car, and they are hoping to not have to move to a backup car for Sunday's race.
Busch enters the Kansas race weekend in the seventh position on the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Grid, and he sits 20 points ahead of Bubba Wallace, who is the first driver outside the cutline.
However, if Wallace, and some other drivers, score a fair amount of Stage Points while Busch is busy trying to work his way through the field, he very well could see his points advantage on the cutline deteriorate. But it's a tough balance because if Busch pushes too hard on his way through the field, there's a chance he can find more trouble on the track, and his day could end early, which would be far more disastrous.
Busch will be a driver to keep an eye on for sure in Sunday's race.
Photo Credit: Tom Copeland, HHP for Chevy Racing