First Kyle Busch briefly went airborne during Sunday’s YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway in a crash that was fairly mild for the famously chaotic track. He was able to continue racing.
Then older brother Kurt Busch’s No. 1 Chevrolet left the ground in a much scarier multi-car wreck, but he’s amazingly OK. And just like Kyle’s wreck, Kurt was in the wrong place at the wrong time when he was collected in a huge crash known as “the big one.”
With much of the field running in a pack together on Lap 109 of 188 on the 2.66-mile track, Clint Bowyer in the No. 14 Ford was pushing Jimmie Johnson in the No. 48 Chevrolet near the start-finish line. It’s unclear if they made contact, but Johnson got loose and turned into Kurt Busch in the No. 1 Chevrolet.
From the inside lane, Kurt Busch’s car turned up the track, and as it smashed into the outside wall, it left the ground and flew over the top of Bowyer’s car and Cole Custer’s No. 41 Ford.
Frightening crash at @TalladegaSuperS. @KurtBusch goes around and get airborne, and many more are collected. #NASCARPlayoffs on @NBC. pic.twitter.com/q9R019E5Pq
— #NASCARPlayoffs on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) October 4, 2020
Kurt Busch, Bowyer and Custer were all evaluated and cleared by the infield medical care center, but that means they were done for the day. Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski were also involved in the wreck but were able to continue racing.
After being cleared by the care center, Kurt Busch told NBC Sports it was a “wild ride.” He added:
“That’s the nature of this sport. You’re on top one week with a win and everything’s fantastic. And then this week here at Talladega, was hoping for a nice, smooth run and gain some points. I was just doing my job as a Chevy helper running top-5, and the next thing you know, I’m going for one of the wildest rides I’ve ever been in.”
All the replays from @KurtBusch's wild ride at @TalladegaSuperS#NASCARPlayoffs // @NBC pic.twitter.com/qw3Emb55z2
— #NASCARPlayoffs on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) October 4, 2020
Kurt Busch and Bowyer are among the 12 remaining playoff drivers competing for the championship. Busch won last weekend’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, so he automatically advances out of the playoffs’ Round of 12 and into the Round of 8.
But Bowyer entered Sunday’s race 20 points below the top-8 cutoff mark and will likely need to win next weekend’s elimination race at Charlotte Motor Speedway to keep his title hopes alive.
Bowyer said he had to be aggressive but didn’t expect to cause a wreck. He said he could see Johnson ahead of him was getting loose, but added: “I was hoping he’d save it, but he didn’t and we all wrecked.”
About Kurt Busch wrecking literally on top of the No. 41 Ford, Custer said:
“I didn’t know he was flipping at first because you’re just kind of looking at what’s in front of you and he was above me. I saw his tire mark on my roof when I got out, so that was pretty crazy.
“Thankfully, he’s OK. Obviously, they have a lot of safe things in these cars, so I can’t thank NASCAR enough for it.”
Although Johnson was able to continue racing briefly, he was furious with Bowyer and said on his team’s radio:
“Oh, I’m destroyed! And I just got drove through like six times by the 14. What the [expletive]’s he thinking?”
"What the ****'s he thinking!?"@JimmieJohnson radioed in to his team, expressing a lot of frustration towards Clint Bowyer. #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/IQSKzBILex
— #NASCARPlayoffs on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) October 4, 2020
