Kyle Busch is off to a bad start at Iowa Speedway after crashing in the practice session. His #8 Chevrolet Camaro sustained significant damage, forcing the Richard Childress Racing team to opt for the backup car.
The crash happened shortly after Busch, 40, posted the second-fastest lap time in his group. He was driving into turn one when the #8 got loose. After overcorrecting the wheel, his car went sideways and hit the outside wall nose-first before catching fire. The driver got out on his own.
NASCAR Insider Joseph Srigley shared the replay of Kyle Busch's crash in practice on X. You can watch it below.
“Kyle Busch and Richard Childress Racing are likely going to a backup car ahead of Sunday’s #IowaCorn350, after this MASSIVE wreck,” Srigley wrote.Christopher Bell was the man of the hour after clocking the fastest lap time of the session at 23.511 seconds at 133.980 mph. Bubba Wallace, last week's race-winner at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, was the second-fastest driver in the session, followed by fellow Toyota driver Chase Briscoe.
By using the backup car, Kyle Busch will start at the back of the pack in the race on Sunday. The upcoming race, scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET, consists of 350 laps around the 0.875-mile circuit. It has been on the NASCAR Cup Series calendar since the 2024 season.
Last year, the Las Vegas native had a water pump issue on his car at the Newton, Iowa-based track, which meant he had to settle for a 35th-place finish. Ryan Blaney was the race winner ahead of William Byron and Chase Elliott.
“Overcorrected and just smacked the fence”: Kyle Busch on his crash in practice at Iowa
After being released from the infield care center, Kyle Busch reflected on the crash that ended his session at Iowa Speedway. He said the No. 8 Chevy initially felt planted coming out of turns three and four, which gave him the confidence to speed up into turn one, but the car got loose and hit the wall.
The two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion said (via Bob Pockrass on X):
“Just trying to find the right rear limit... find the right rear grip that we needed and made some good changes in the car each time it came down.” “Felt really good at (turns) three and four there, I throttled up, car struck well, I'm like, ‘Okay, the right rear's good, let's go.’ And drove it off into (turn) one and with a little bit more trust factor in it, and obviously it wasn't there. Got a little bit loose and overcorrected and just smacked the fence.”
Busch enters the Iowa Corn 350 while being 81 points below the playoff cutline behind Ryan Preece. He has yet to return to postseason action after missing it last year for reasons like not winning a single race in a season. That was a first for the 63-time Cup race winner in 19 years.
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Edited by Tushar Bahl