NASCAR has traditionally been stiff in the penalties for similar violations
On Friday night, the NASCAR Truck Series rolled into Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The 1.5-mile track is located in Las Vegas, Nevada and known to put on a hell of a truck race.
Kyle Busch was in the field for the hometown event. He started the race in 29th. By the end of stage one, he was up to 4th.
Busch grabbed the win in stage two. The race was shaping into a battle between Busch and another KBM truck, driven by John Hunter Nemechek.
On lap 78 of 134, Kyle Busch was taken three wide on a restart. He then went three wide yet again to reclaim those positions. Along the way, Busch rubber fenders with Sheldon Creed.
Kyle Busch picks up flat tire
With just 47 laps to go, Busch picked up a flat left rear while running 2nd. He was able to save it at 180mph as the truck stepped out and nearly tagged the wall off turn four as the white gloves went left and right across the inside of the windshield.
The driver safely worked it to the apron. However, he wasn’t going to get a caution.
While coasting, Busch spun off turn two. This time, his gloves didn’t turn right to try and correct the spin. The steering wheel remained straight and Kyle Busch went around.
As Busch sat sideways on the apron with his door to the cars exiting turn two, NASCAR threw the caution.
“Yeah, Kyle got a little loose there on the flat,” Austin Dillon commented from the tv booth.
“Huh, got away from him on the apron,” Michael Waltrip also commented.
Dillon added, “He saved it going pretty fast earlier, didn’t he?”
Busch went to the pits. As he came out he jumped on the radio, “You know how you lose Truck races? You f****** beat yourself. How can everybody have these blown out left rear fenders and we f****** have a tire rub. Stupid sh*t.”
Charge back to the front
With the caution, Busch went only a single lap down to the race leaders.
38 to go, Lessard spun himself across the nose of Gilliland. With the caution, Kyle Busch returned to the lead lap and the fields worst nightmare was back in the race.
On the restart, Busch restarted in 25th. With 22 to go, he was running 10th.
Just a few laps later, Busch was all the way to 3rd. With 7 to go, Kyle Busch gave a shove to John Hunter Nemechek on the inside lane, clearing them both into turn one.
KBM trucks ran 1st and 2nd for the race win. However, Kyle Busch was unable to get it done. John Hunter Nemechek has returned to the Truck Series to grab wins, on Friday he did just that.
It was an emotional victory for John Hunter Nemechek who fought back tears after climbing from his truck.
Related: Las Vegas race results from March 5, 2021 (NASCAR Truck Series)
Busch asked about the spin / Former penalties
After the race, Kyle Busch was asked to do a walkthrough of the spin.
“Nope,” Kyle Busch wisely responded in the video below.
He didn’t lie and he didn’t throw himself under the bus. He just refused to answer which I respect way more than an obvious lie.
In November 2019, Bubba Wallace admitted that he spun on purpose to bring out a caution at Texas Motor Speedway. That’s illegal and it gave NASCAR an admission of guilt.
NASCAR officials reacted by fining Bubba Wallace $50,000. He was found in violation of Section 12.1.a (General Procedures), Section 12.8 (NASCAR Member Conduct), Section 12.8.1 (Member Conduct Guidelines) as well as Section 10.8 (In-Race Violations).
The spin by Kyle Busch was not included in NASCAR’s weekly race highlight video.
Related: NASCAR fines Bubba Wallace $50,000 for intentional spin at Texas Motor Speedway
Update: NASCAR reviewing spin by Kyle Busch
