Kyle Busch takes blame for causing wild multi-car wreck in the rain

On the sixth lap of the NASCAR Cup race in Mexico, drivers were tiptoeing around the wet track in one of the rare moments where you’ll see the top level of stock car racing compete in the rain.

Although most of the field had pitted wet-weather tires, it was still treacherous conditions. Kyle Busch was running 12th when he hydroplaned in the run down into Turn 1. Busch spun the car out, but that was about all he could do as the slammed into the cars directly ahead of him.

He hit Justin Haley, Kyle Larson and A.J. Allmendinger, damaging all three cars. Chase Briscoe and Zane Smith were also collected in the pileup.

Larson spent almost half the race in the garage making repairs while all other cars continued — except Busch. The No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet had sustained too much damage and he finished 39th (last).

What went wrong?

“Just in the rain, I went down into (Turn) 11 and got on the brakes pretty hard and everything was fine,” explained Busch after the incident. “Everything was comfortable, it stopped really good, and I thought okay, I can be a little bit more aggressive this time. Getting back into one and went to the 10 marker, if there is a 10 marker, it’s the bridge, and we’ve been going much past the bridge all day on dries and so wet, I figured it’s going to be fine.

“As soon as I went to the brakes, it was just on ice, and I was sliding, and so about a second and a half or so, I was just trying to figure out which direction to go, and then I was like, I’ve got to turn this thing around backwards because I’m going to nail some people. So, I hate it for all those that were involved in my mishap there, and hate it for Lucas Oil, and of course, RCR, ECR, the guys. I mean, the car yesterday in qualifying was really good, it felt like we were going to be really sporty in the dry. I hate that the rain came, and now it’s nice and dry, so just have to go fight for more points in another week.”

Between that wreck and Shane van Gisbergen winning his way into the playoffs, Busch is now 50 points below the cut-line as the series heads to Pocono Raceway.