Kyle Busch took a horrifying last-lap ride in the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway, emerging unscathed from three separate, but equally violent, impacts in a wild finish.
Kyle Busch went for a wicked last-lap ride in the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona. (Photo: LAT Photographic) ยป More Photos
Busch, the defending race winner, had taken over the lead from Stewart on the race’s penultimate lap, which put him in position to win again. But on the final lap, Stewart and Jimmie Johnson teamed up in the draft and quickly closed on Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
On the last lap Busch went low in Turn 4 to block Stewart’s attempted pass. Stewart then tried the outside to pass and when he did, Busch went up the track to block. But Busch’s right-rear quarter panel hit the left front of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet Impala SS.
Stewart was able to keep his foot in it and blazed towards the checkered flag, but Busch’s Toyota spun around and went into the outside retaining wall on the frontstretch, hitting driver’s-side first, with an impact so violent that it lifted the car completely off the ground.
But that was just the beginning. Busch’s car turned around and was pointed towards the start-finish line when Kasey Kahne slammed into him from behind at full speed, sending the No. 18 up in the air a second time, before it came down on Kahne’s hood.
A split-second later Busch’s teammate, Joey Logano, hit him in the driver’s-side door, again at full speed. It was horrifying to witness, but Busch emerged unscathed, if unwilling to comment afterwards. Officially, he was credited with a 14th-place finish.
“We went for it right there at the end,” said Busch’s crew chief Steve Addington. “This is a product of restrictor-plate racing with these racecars. What are you going to say? Everybody on this race team worked their tails off and we had a good race car. I can’t say anything. I’m not pointing any fingers at Tony. He was trying to win the race, Kyle was trying to block him for the win and we got turned around.”
For his part, race-winner Stewart wasn’t pleased at what happened, either.
“I guess I just don't feel as much gratification from winning this race as I probably should, I guess, just because I don't like the way the outcome happened,” said Stewart, the Sprint Cup points leader. “I don't like — if we didn't win the race, we didn't earn it. But I don't want any part of earning a race because the guy that was leading the race got wrecked.”
Stewart knew the accident wasn’t his fault. He clearly held his line, with Busch moving into him. But that was cold comfort after seeing the carnage that ensued.
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“I don't know that we did anything wrong,” said Stewart. “I mean, I've seen replays of it, and he's protecting his position, which he's got to do. I mean, that's what he has to do as a driver. He can't just sit there and let us make a move like that and not try to defend it. But it puts him, it puts us, it put Kasey Kahne behind him in a bad position where it drove Kyle's car all the way up to Kasey's windshield.”
Stewart and Busch were teammates in 2008 at Joe Gibbs Racing and the two developed a lot of respect for each other during that time. And they raced well together on Saturday night until the big crash.
“I worked really good with Kyle all day long and Kyle was the guy that I chose to have restart behind me all day, and we worked really well together,” said Stewart, who now has three July Daytona victories. “You know, you don't want to see a guy that's — you don't want to see anybody, but you don't want to see somebody that ran up front all day lose that many spots and lose an opportunity to win because of an accident like that coming to the checkered flag.”
“It’s a big disappointment,” said Addington, who had hoped to get a victory on his birthday. “We sat there, Kyle was patient all night long and sat there and rode. Jeff (Dickerson, spotter) kept telling him to just click off laps and we didn’t have any power issues. We were just fine. We took care of our tires all night long to be there at the end because we needed to have a good points day and we were in a position to go for the win and he did and we end up wrecked. What are you going to say?”
Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,” and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to
