Although Kyle Busch hit the wall, series officials deemed that he was not a part of the incident with Ross Chastain last weekend at Nashville Superspeedway and Busch was returned to his original position before the ensuring overtime restart.
The decision led to questions about how Busch was allowed to remain fourth when he slowed, made contact with the wall and was passed by the field.
In the end, NASCARs determination ultimately hurt Busch, who was collected in an accident when Larson ran out of fuel in front of him during the fourth overtime restart. Busch finished 27th.
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Dustin Long,
Dustin Long,
On the second of the series-record five overtime restarts, Larson came up the track and hit the left rear of Chastains car. That sent Chastain up the track and into the wall. Busch, running on the high line, slowed and hit the wall as he avoided making contact with Chastain. The field passed Busch.
NASCARs rule states that a driver must maintain reasonable speed to keep their position during a caution.
But Busch went on to restart fourth.
Brad Moran, Cup Series managing director, explained Tuesday on The Morning Drive on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio how Busch restarted fourth.
“His spots werent taken away because our rule clearly states that you must maintain a reasonable speed, Moran said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. And reasonable speed is for what track conditions are at the time.
“We dont want to encourage drivers to stay on the gas and just kind of, you know, bang their way through. What (Busch) did was he avoided the incident.
We deemed him not involved in that incident. He didnt stop. If he had to stop, he probably would have ended up towards the back of the field, but he was scored in the fourth-place position when that caution come out. He didnt get into (Ross Chastain) or (Kyle Larson) and made very slight contact with the wall, so we would deem that as not being involved in that incident and thats why he was able to restart where he was scored.
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Dustin Long,
Dustin Long,
Moran said the order was set based on scoring loop data.
“Thats what was the last loop that the leaders were scored on,” Moran said. “So really it comes down to do we determine him involved in that wreck, and we did not determine him involved in the wreck. We determined that he avoided being involved in the wreck.