NASCAR Xfinity Series

Kyle Busch slams the wall after right-front tire failure

Published Apr. 24, 2017 5:09 p.m. ET

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Tom Jensen

Five-time Bristol Motor Speedway winner Kyle Busch saw his chances for a sixth Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory at the 0.533-mile track severely reduced when a tire failure put him into the wall.

Busch, who had been fast in practice but not so much in the race, saw a right-front tire bead fail on his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota on Lap 210, hurtling the car into the Turn 2 wall.

And while Busch was able to get the car to pit road for fresh rubber, he rejoined the race in 23rd place, the last car on the lead lap.

Miraculously, the JGR crew made repairs and Busch got all the way back in the top 10, running as high as seventh place.

But his day ended on Lap 382 when he had a second right-front tire explode, sending Busch into the wall a second time, causing heavier damage this time.

Busch said he was baffled by what happened.

“I was the fastest one out there those last two runs picking cars off and driving from the back to the front after we lost our track position the first time,” he said. “We had our issues and we were trying to march our way back up towards the front and get there and thought we were doing a good job of that and trying to be conservative with the tires because obviously, they can’t make it through a full distance for us for some reason.

“I don’t know, I don’t know if it’s fundamentally wrong what we’re doing, but it seems like all the rest of our five JGR cars are fine.”

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