UPDATE: Kyle Busch will go to a backup car for Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Todd Berrier of Joe Gibbs Racing told PRN that the backup car for the No. 18 was meant to be a ‘parts car’ for the west coast swing.
Therefore, the car isn’t remotely close to being race-ready and will require a lot of work from the Joe Gibbs Racing crew.
Todd Berrier with @JoeGibbsRacing told @WendyVenturini the backup car for Kyle Busch was meant to be a parts car for the west coast swing.
It’s not even remotely close to race ready so they’ll be working very hard this afternoon.
— PRN (@PRNlive) March 5, 2022
ORIGINAL STORY:
Kyle Busch’s homecoming isn’t exactly going as planned, after an incident early in practice has caused substantive damage to the No. 18 Ethel M Chocolates Toyota Camry in the opening minutes of NASCAR Cup Series practice.
Here's what happened (left-rear tire went down): https://t.co/yw6E7ol2eX pic.twitter.com/lENP8fc5W7
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) March 5, 2022
Busch, who finished second in Friday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event at the 1.5-mile facility, looked to have a left-rear flat entering the third corner, causing his Joe Gibbs Racing entry to loop around, and smack the rear-end into the outside wall.
The 1??8?? is around! @KyleBusch makes heavy contact with the wall early in practice. pic.twitter.com/a3v8KThHEG
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) March 5, 2022
At the time of publishing, there is no official word on whether Busch will go to a backup car for Sunday’s 400-mile event, however, it’s unlikely he’ll take time in single-car qualifying later this afternoon.
Kyle Busch car pic.twitter.com/blh2LaZbad
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) March 5, 2022
Additional updates, as received, will be added to this story