Bad tire sends Kyle Busch spinning, crashing

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Everything seemed blueprint-perfect Sunday afternoon for stock car racer Kyle Busch, brother of Daytona 500 winner Kurt Busch.

For a while, it appeared as if Busch’s younger sibling might be in position to capture his first Daytona 500 checkered flag.

“We had a really good game plan,’’ said Busch, 31, who started in the 11th row. “We were executing well and doing a good job and keeping ourselves up front. We won the first segment and that was our intentions.’’

Then fate sapped the life out of Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry.

Or, more accurately, the air got sucked out of one of the rear tires from his bright-yellow M&M stock car.

In one sudden, violent collision, Busch’s wreck took out three JRG teammates, including Matt Kenseth. That ended Busch’s day and extended his Daytona 500 winless streak to a dozen races.

On lap 104, Busch’s car spun, turned into Kenseth, and then lurched into a wall at Daytona International Speedway’s 2.5-mile tri-oval, triggering a six-car wreck.

“Fantastic,’’ Busch said to his crew on the radio regarding his Toyota, mangled on the left side with dangling sheet metal.

Busch initially could not identify if it was his car’s right or left rear tire that failed. But, clearly, he was irritated because he was not at fault. He blamed Goodyear rubber.

“We tore up three really good JGR cars,’’ Busch later told reporters. “We also tore up the 88 (driven by Dale Earnhardt Jr.), so I feel horrible about that but, man, (there’s) nothing I can do — nothing that I did wrong. These Goodyear tires aren’t very good at holding air, so it’s very frustrating when you’re trying to win the Daytona 500 and you gotta rely on other people, and they don’t do a good job.’’

With some friendly aerodynamic push from his Toyota teammates, Busch won Stage 1 (60 laps) as NASCAR unveiled its new scoring system. The half-dozen Toyota entries attempted to stay bunched together in drafting mode but became separated and dropped to a lead grouping of only three cars that included Busch.

“It got a little hairy out there,” said Busch, who led three times for 16 laps during Stage 1, tying with Kevin Harvick for most times led during that initial session.

Brendan Gaughan, Las Vegas’ third entrant in the race, steered clear of trouble for most of the afternoon except for one minor brush. The 41-year-old journeyman drove a steady race and just missed out on a top-10 finish, coming across the finish line in 11th place.

Jon Mark Saraceno can be reached at jsaraceno@reviewjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @jonnysaraceno.