Kurt Busch, who led the most laps (102) in Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series race, saw his dominant run come to a screeching halt when he spun into the wall after getting tangled in tight traffic at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
The incident, which occurred on Lap 226 of 302, dropped Busch to a 31st-place finish.
Busch along with Ryan Newman and Matt Kenseth were involved in the accident at the 1.058-mile oval. Busch’s car could not move after hitting the concrete barrier and was driven back to the garage by a tow vehicle where the Furniture Row crew was waiting to make the necessary repairs. Busch was able to return to action, finishing 19 laps down.
“It was a three-wide accident and everybody is going hard,” said Busch, who became the first Furniture Row Racing driver to lead the most laps. “We had a great car, which was capable of winning this race. But once again we didn’t have the finish worthy of our performance.”
Busch came into the race with three-straight top-10s and was positioned in ninth-place in the point standings. He leaves New Hampshire in 14th place, only seven points out of 10th, the final position before the two wildcards make the Chase.
“We took a hit in the points, but we’re still in the Chase hunt – that’s the good news,” stated Busch. “But we need to have more consistency and can’t have these kinds of finishes with only seven races remaining before the Chase.”
Busch, who started the Camping World RV Sales 301, from the outside pole, was strong from the beginning. He led three times during the race – laps 63-74, 78-123, and 159-202.
“There are so many positive things happening with this race team and that’s why it hurts even more to finish where we did today with a fast race car. But I am confident when we get to Indianapolis for our next race the No. 78 Chevrolet will once again be fast.”
The New Hampshire race winner was Brian Vickers. Rounding out the top-10 in order were: Kyle Busch, Jeff Burton, Brad Keselowski, Aric Almirola, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon.
The race had 10 lead changes among six drivers and 12 cautions for 58 laps.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series has next weekend off. The schedule resumes Sunday July 28 in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
FRR PR
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