Kyle Busch Miffed at ‘NASCAR Procedures’ That Retired Him From Daytona 500

Two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch wasn't happy with the procedures that eliminated him from Sunday's DAYTONA 500 and left him to finish 34th.

Peter Casey-Imagn Images

Kyle Busch, a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, has been attempting to win the DAYTONA 500 for more than two decades now, and on Sunday, one of his best chances in quite some time went up in smoke from a late-race incident.

The incident itself wasn’t a major issue for Busch, who ended up spinning his No. 8 Zone Nicotine Pouches Chevrolet to the inside of the racetrack on the backstretch after contact from Ricky Stenhouse. However, it’s what followed that ended up costing the Richard Childress Racing driver a shot at winning ‘The Great American Race’.

“Just got beat by NASCAR procedures again,” the Las Vegas, Nevada-native told members of the media after leaving the infield care center. “Just not being able to get back out on the racetrack.”

Kyle Busch very upset with #NASCAR’s protocols which led to him being out of the race. pic.twitter.com/BWRGifAYwj

— Toby Christie (@Toby_Christie) February 17, 2025

Busch is referring to NASCAR’s Damaged Vehicle Policy, which was tweaked over the off-season as a result of discourse from several industry members, who believed that NASCAR was unjustly ending a driver’s race despite them having the capability to continue on-track.

“I had four flat tires out there and they have these air jack systems in the car, mandatory by NASCAR, and the guy carries around an empty air bottle to plug into the car, so couldn’t plug it up so I could make my own return to pit road.” Busch says. “I said I wanted a push, so they decided for three laps to figure out how to hook it up and tow us back in.”

Under the amended Damaged Vehicle Policy (DVP), NASCAR says that drivers who are unable to return themselves to pit road will be towed into the garage, where they will then be able to work on their racecars with no threat of the clock.

With four flat tires, and the inability to use the air jack system, this was NASCAR’s only option for transporting Busch’s away from the scene of the accident.

“[NASCAR] towed us into a work area, where our guys reviewed the car and didn’t see anything massively wrong, all the wheels were pointed in the right direction, we put four new tires on it to go back out to basically see what the next process was going to be for us, but then was told if you need to work on it and repair it that you need to go back to [the work area], but if you go back to that place they park you.”

“So, what are we supposed to do to continue working on it now that we’ve got four new tires on it and all the wheels are pointed in the right direction,” Busch added.

The 39-year-old driver was less than pleased with how the entire process unfolded, and the No. 8 team returning to the work area to do further assessment was enough for NASCAR to park the Richard Childress Racing team, ultimately placing them 34th in the DAYTONA 500.

Busch, a 63-time winner in the NASCAR Cup Series, will now have to continue hunting down another opportunity to end his long winless streak at NASCAR’s top-level, with his last victory coming at World Wide Technology Raceway in June 2023, almost two years ago.

As for winning the prestigious DAYTONA 500, Busch will have to wait another year for his chance at hoisting the Harley J. Earl Trophy.