SPEEDWAY, Ind. – Defending Crown Royal 400 race winner Kyle Busch narrowly avoided a major catastrophe during opening practice on Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in preparation for Sunday’s race (3 p.m. ET on NBCSN).
Closing fast on the No. 32 GoFas Racing Ford driven by Patrick Carpentier, Busch caught the car at the end of the short chute between Turns 1 and 2. Carpentier steered down the track, pinching Busch’s No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota on the apron.
Busch spun, as the right side of his Camry collided with Carpentier’s Ford, but Busch was able to steer his car away from the inside wall and avoided further damage.
Carpentier acknowledged he had failed to yield the racing line to a faster car.
“Kyle was a little bit further back down the (front) straightaway and I was like, ‘Do I lift to let him by?’” said Carpentier, whose car escaped unscathed. “He was still quite far away, but he closed in pretty quickly.
“I didn’t think he was going to go in there, but it was my bad. I should have let him go in between both corners, but that’s why I went and apologized to him.”
Carpentier hasn’t competed in a NASCAR race on an oval track since 2011, and Busch didn’t appear particularly receptive when the Canadian driver paid a visit to the No. 18 garage stall to offer his mea culpa.
“He was not very talkative, but that’s to be expected,” Carpentier said. “I guess that’s racing, but it’s just sad that it happened in practice. I wish I would have let him by, but I just wanted to get some laps and some runs.
“A couple of laps before I let Ryan Newman by in between (Turns) 1 and 2, and that went pretty well, and I should have done that with Kyle. Like I told him, ‘The next time, I’ll do it.’”
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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