Insiders take issue with controversial NASCAR ruling on Kyle Busch
Late in the race at Nashville Superspeedway, Ross Chastain was wrecked and Kyle Busch ended up getting involved. At least, the NASCAR champion had to check up to avoid Chastain and ended up hitting the wall himself in the process.
Kyle Busch fought hard to get to his car to the front of the field. Qualified P27. Was in the back of the field for much of the race early on. Then, solid pit strategy and tire decisions sent him to the front.
With track position secured and an overtime battle brewing, Busch was there. He was P4 with, ideally, a restart away from his first top-5 finish since Dover. Then Chastain washed up and Busch was passed by a ton of cars.
So, why did NASCAR let Rowdy move back to P4 before the next restart? Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic discussed the topic on The Teardown after the race.
“[Busch is] running fourth or whatever and then he gets in a wreck, runs into Chastain, loses like 15 spots,” Gluck said. “I guess we can talk about that right now. … NASCAR puts him back, he gets passed by like half the field…”
Why did NASCAR keep Kyle Busch in position after a wreck?
Jordan Bianchi then weighed in after speaking with NASCAR about the incident.
“I asked about this and the explanation was, that, the rule is you have to maintain your speed, right?” Bianchi said. “Reasonable amount of speed. As was explained to me, had Kyle Busch retained a reasonable amount of speed, he was going to run into Ross Chastain, broadside. So, he exercised his good judgment to back off and not make a situation much worse.
“Therefore, he wasn’t really in the accident, he was being safe and courteous, and I’m kinda paraphrasing here a little bit. So, that is why they gave him the spot back because he wasn’t in the wreck and if he would have continued to maintain his position as he’s supposed to do it would have potentially injured somebody. … It was explained to me that this is not something that happens all the time, it is definitely a judgment call. This is something where NASCAR has exercised this discretion before.”
Even after hearing the explanation, Gluck wasn’t buying it. I don’t believe Bianchi was, either.
“I have a hard time believing that is the actual explanation, the actual reason,” Gluck explained. “Because it can’t be. It just can’t be. What? It’s just not right.”
Neither Gluck nor Bianchi were supportive of the decision. What do you think, did NASCAR give Kyle Busch a pass when he didn’t deserve it? It didn’t matter much because Busch would DNF on the ensuing restart.