Kyle Busch’s primary No. 18 Snickers Creamy Toyota Camry has been fast all week. After nailing the sixth-spot in Friday’s qualifying, Busch was second fastest in the final practice session for Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500.
It looked like everything was going great. And then it wasn’t.
Damage for Kyle Busch in Atlanta. He went into the wall during final practice.#NASCARonFS1 pic.twitter.com/m2licDVycX
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 23, 2019
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Early in the session, Busch’s incredibly fast No. 18 car became toast as he spun and slapped the wall with the rear of his car. The team will be relegated to a backup car, which means Busch will head to the back of the field for Sunday’s race.
So what happened to Busch’s car?
“Just kept getting a little bit looser and a little bit looser,” Busch said. “Tried to go back to the bottom to see how slow I had to go to run the bottom and it just snapped.”
Even though there was weather in the area at the time, Busch confirmed that rain was not the cause of his crash.
“Just tire wear,” Busch explained. “Normal getting looser as you go. It got a little bit loose for a couple of laps then it got really really loose on the lap I crashed.”
For Busch, starting at the back of the pack isn’t a worry. It’s the unknown of using his backup car.
“I think [starting in the back will] be fine,” Busch said confidently. “I think the biggest unknown is just the backup car, but I trust in [my crew chief] Adam [Stevens] and the guys and everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing and we’ll be fine. It’ll just have to be a managed race — a differently managed race than what we expected from yesterday’s qualifying.”
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