Kyle Busch furious after early penalty at Las Vegas: 'That's insane'

Bad news for Kyle Busch and he is not happy. The No. 8 car was ready to take advantage of a stunted green flag pit cycle. Then he sped on pit road. Of course, Busch didn’t think he did anything wrong, but NASCAR dinged him anyway.

This race has been flipped. Drivers had just started to go down pit road, splitting the first stage in half more or less. Then Chase Briscoe lost a wheel. Ryan Blaney got stuck two laps down on a botched stop.

That opened the door for many drivers to move up through the field. Busch took his pit stop under caution and was ready to take a top-five starting spot after the choose. Well, his penalty stopped that from happening.

“That’s insane,” Busch said on the radio, via Matt Weaver of Sportsnaut. “I never saw a blue light down pit road. I’m on page 3.”

Kyle Busch is likely referencing the lights on his dashboard. That tells drivers how fast they are going down pit road more or less. His team is also upset they received the penalty late.

"That's insane. I never saw a blue light down pit road. I'm on page 3."

Kyle Busch on his speeding penalty

— Matt Weaver (@MattWeaverRA) March 16, 2025

Richard Childress Racing’s No. 8 team wanted to dispute the penalty. However, they complained over the radio that there was no chance to do so, Toby Christie reports.

Busch and his team are complaining about being told super late about their speeding penalty. They say they didn't even have time to review or argue the situation with NASCAR.

— Toby Christie (@Toby_Christie) March 16, 2025

Kyle Busch desperately wants a win. This does not make his job easier whatsoever. It doesn’t end his day, either. But he is going to have to be patient, make better decisions, and maybe hope for another break or two.

Kyle Busch makes critical mistake after Briscoe penalty

Cautions breed cautions and mistakes breed more mistakes. There is more opportunity for drivers to mess up when these things happen. Add in the fact that Las Vegas Motor Speedway has a particularly tricky pit road and it makes it that much more important.

Joey Logano led a lot of laps early. But that pit cycle put Austin Cindric in position to win the first stage. While it has been slow, Busch has been able to move up again. A couple of pit stop cycles and he might be back where he wants to be as this race gets past the halfway point.

From here there can be no more mistakes for the No. 8 team. At all. Another penalty would surely be the end of their hopes to win this race. It will take adjustments, perfect pit stops, and a little bit of luck to get themselves into contention.