Richard Childress Racing driver Kyle Busch was not involved in the wreck that occurred during the NASCAR Overtime restart at Nashville Superspeedway, despite making contact with the wall after an incident between Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain. NASCAR Cup Series Managing Director Brad Moran clarified this during a recent appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Moran explained that NASCAR’s rules state that drivers must maintain a reasonable speed to avoid encouraging reckless driving through incidents. Although Busch slowed to avoid the wreck and was passed by other cars, he was still lined up in the fourth position for the green flag. Scoring-loop data showed that Busch was in fourth place at the time of the incident, which further supported the decision that he was not involved in the wreck.
The determination was made based on real-time monitoring of scoring-loop data, which showed Busch in fourth place when the caution came out. This data, along with Busch’s actions to avoid the wreck, led NASCAR officials to conclude that he was not involved in the incident.
Unfortunately, later in the race, Busch was collected in a separate incident when Larson’s car ran out of fuel in front of him. This incident resulted in Busch finishing in 27th place, but he was not penalized in the earlier wreck due to his avoidance of the initial collision.
