Rain has dictated outcomes for a number of drivers in the last three outings in the NASCAR Cup Series. With the race at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway postponed on Sunday, clear skies on Monday brought a positive vibe. While the skies were bright, Kyle Busch’s day wasn’t.
With three wins already to his name this season, Busch has had an impressive campaign so far. That being said, he still had loads to achieve in the remaining seven races to improve his position on the table. Unfortunately, things didn’t quite go his way on Monday.
Kyle Busch has a forgetful weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway
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It is no secret how Kyle Busch has struggled at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Coming into the race, he must have been aware of his underwhelming record at NHMS in recent years. He finished outside the top 30 in two of the last three races at the track. What happened in the practice session and the qualifiers didn’t quite really help his cause.
The Richard Childress Racing driver lost traction at the entrance to the first corner on Saturday, eventually crashing into the outside wall. However, he reacted well and ended up finishing 10th. Given his experience, Rowdy realized how grid positioning was important. In his words, “It’s pretty miserable when you don’t qualify good here.”
"I think we're f***ed and we're not going to be able to fix it, Kyle."
No. 8 team tells Kyle Busch
— Jordan Bianchi (@Jordan_Bianchi) July 17, 2023
While it might be true, it did not prove to be helpful for him on Monday. At the end of Stage 1, Busch’s car clobbered the Turn 1 wall, heavily damaging its right front. Despite giving the car an additional lap, his crew confirmed the damage to be terminal, thus resulting in an early end for the 38-year-old. No wonder he was found exclaiming in disappointment, “It’s killed” after the hit.
Sometimes when Kyle Busch says "it's killed" after hitting the wall, it's actually not that bad and sometimes he even wins.
Today is not one of those days. He has DNF'd after hitting the wall.
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) July 17, 2023
What happened was truly unfortunate and understandably Busch was devastated. After coming out of the care center, he explained the incident. He said, “No, just handling issues. Any time I’m too quick on the wheel, it just snaps out and that’s what happened there. Just hate it for our crew.” From Rowdy’s standards, it could be deemed as an unusual.
READ MORE – Kyle Busch Reveals the One Thing He Will Miss About Joe Gibbs After New Hampshire
While it was unexpected, Busch’s fans were left heartbroken, and rightfully so.
Fans devastated as Stage 1 crash ends Kyle Busch’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway
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It is true that Kyle Busch hasn’t enjoyed a good spell at NHMS. He now has three DNFs in 32 Cup races at the track. In fact, these three DNFs have taken place in the last four races, each of them because of a crash in Stage 1. Perhaps there’s something about Stage 1 and Busch that doesn’t fit right in Loudon.
A big hit for @KyleBusch at the end of Stage 1! pic.twitter.com/lT8UI3L3En
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 17, 2023
Rowdy was running 27th when the crash took place. Now that he has ended up finishing 36th, it is a big blow for his fanbase. Plenty of them took to Twitter to express their disappointment.
“There goes the streak. What a terrible weekend. We gotta fix the setup for some of the shorter tracks”
“They should have gone to a back up car instead of repairing this one.”
“:( the car was cursed I told em!!”
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“Might as well have went home yesterday. Start a new top 10 streak next week.”
“So much for that top ten streak”
“Car has been on ice all weekend. How do you miss on a setup that bad.”
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Now, all Busch could do is chin up and hope for a better outing come next weekend. Having said that, did his team miss out on checking some major issues with the car or was it just hard luck on the track? What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.
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