NASCAR deemed Kyle Busch not involved in the first overtime incident Sunday night at Nashville Superspeedway, and that’s why he was given his top-five position back.
Ross Chastain spun in Turn 1 and hit Kyle Larson’s bumper, sending the Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet into the outside wall. Chastain led the outside lane on the restart and Busch lined up behind him. When Chastain spun, Busch moved to avoid him and bounced off the wall.
Busch slowed to avoid Chastain, who continued to slide with the driver’s side door toward the field. Ty Gibbs collided with Chastain, causing his car to spin again. As the crash unfolded, Busch stayed high near the wall.
NASCAR put the No. 8 back in fourth position for the second overtime attempt.
“It’s not so much about getting his spot back; his spots weren’t taken away from him because our rule clearly states you have to maintain a reasonable speed and reasonable speed is for the track conditions at the time,” NASCAR Cup Series executive director Brad Moran told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “We don’t want to encourage drivers to keep hitting the gas and just make way. What he did was avoid the incident. We feel like he wasn’t involved in that incident. He didn’t stop. If he had stopped, he probably would have ended up at the back of the pack.
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“But he was in fourth place when the caution came out and he didn’t run into the No. 1 (Chastain) or the No. 5 (Larson) and he had very minor contact with the wall. We would consider him not to have been involved in that incident and that’s why he was able to restart the race where he was charged.”
Moran said the points course determined the lineup when the field was frozen. Busch didn’t join the pack until Chastain slid across the track, by which time most of the field had passed him.
“It was the fourth lap, and that was the last one where the leaders were scored,” Moran said. “It really comes down to, ‘Did we determine that he was involved in that crash?’ and we didn’t determine that he was involved in the crash. We determined that he avoided being involved in the crash.”
Busch’s luck didn’t last long. On the next restart, where he again lined up fourth, he was spun from behind by Chase Elliott as Larson moved ahead of the pack from the outside of the front row. Busch hit the outside wall, ending his race.
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