BROOKLYN, Mich. — Kyle Busch hasn’t spoken to Brad Keselowski since the last-lap incident that knocked Busch out of the lead last Sunday at Watkins Glen International.
Kyle Busch hasn’t spoken to reporters either, declining to share his views of the collision after the race and after Friday’s qualifying session at Michigan International Speedway.
Busch had plenty of reason to be disappointed. After taking the white flag in the lead on Sunday, his No. 18 Toyota slipped in oil in the first corner. Busch went wide, to the left of the rumble strips that define the course.
Keselowski managed to keep his car to the right of the strips and took a more direct line into Turn 2. Busch, who was never off the asphalt, returned to the racing line at a wider angle with his front quarter ahead of Keselowski, who held his line and spun Busch’s Toyota.
Though Busch recovered to finish seventh, the spin deprived him of a possible victory and a much firmer hold on the second wild-card spot in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Instead, Busch trails Ryan Newman for the second of two wild-card berths.
Keselowski would like to see any issues he might have with Busch resolved before the Chase starts at Chicagoland on Sept. 16.
“I spoke with his crew chief, Dave Rogers, and tried to get a hold of him, but every phone number that I had was bad or something,” Keselowski said Friday at Michigan. “Like I said after the race, it was unfortunate, because dumping the leader on the last lap is not something that I want to be known for.
“It’s obviously something that happened, and everybody has got a different perspective on whether it was right, wrong or somewhere in-between. I’m probably right in the middle of that, how I feel about it. I feel like we’re all going for the same spot. I obviously really pushed real hard, and he wasn’t going to give it up. I’d like to talk to him first to truly understand his perspective.
“It certainly wasn’t something that I wanted to see happen. I wasn’t something that I intended to happen, but it obviously happened, and I can’t make that go away and only hope he understands as a racer that he is that things like that happen, and it’s just sometimes part of the breaks.”
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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