Kyle Busch out of Crayon 301 after hitting the wall at New Hampshire

Things have not gone well this weekend for Kyle Busch and his team. Despite having a decent car, bad luck followed them. Sometimes, the Magic Mile isn’t always so magical for NASCAR drivers. Busch was struggling to move up throughout the Stage 1 laps but was unable to continue after hitting the wall.

For the third time this weekend, (I know it is Monday), Kyle Busch found himself in the wall. He saved his car on Saturday in qualifying. His team got it put back together. This time, they were unable to fix it. A Humpty Dumpty situation with the right front and rear created too many problems.

This time, the damage was just too much for the No. 8 team to handle. To his credit, he isn’t the only driver to hit the wall on that final lap of Stage 1.

Trouble for Kyle Busch AND Corey LaJoie!#NASCAR | @USANetwork pic.twitter.com/34XtUkkEWk

— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 17, 2023

Kyle Busch had issues with right rear grip on the track throughout the weekend. It was an issue in practice, in qualifying, and finally in the race. Things just didn’t work out for whatever reason this weekend. Perhaps the new tires they are using this weekend had something to do with it.

Busch wanted to try a different line and he ended up losing it. Sometimes when you go looking for grip, you find the spots where it is least present. Busch did it, and so did Corey LaJoie right after him in the same turn.

Kyle Busch loses ground in regular season championship hunt

Of course, the biggest thing about this DNF is the impact it has on the regular season championship. Right now, it looks like Martin Truex Jr. is going to have one of those days at New Hampshire. You know, the days where he leads the field and doesn’t look back and wins by multiple seconds. Now, we still aren’t even halfway through the race. But that’s what it looks like right now.

Busch came into the weekend behind both Truex Jr. and William Byron. Both of those other drivers led laps at New Hampshire on Monday. That means Busch is not just behind, but will get even more behind as the race continues and the 24 and 19 continue to make laps in the top-10.

New Hampshire Motor Speedway has never been great for Chevys. So, it makes sense that we are seeing Toyotas dominate the day, even Fords are making ground. Before this race, Busch was ready to close the gap on the regular season points leader, Byron, now we will wait and see how far he slips in the standings.

DNFs this late in the season are only going to hurt. Drivers are picking up those points whenever they can. Kyle Busch was in a tough position all weekend and he was just unable to get things back on track.