Coming off his 68th NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win in the Fr8 Racing 208 at EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta on Saturday, a result many saw as a shot in the arm, Kyle Busch saw his Cup Series drought continue after getting wiped out in stage two and slamming into the inside wall, bringing his day to a halt. He had started from P14 and climbed to P7 by the end of stage one, but once stage two got underway and he was circling in 13th, trouble knocked on the door.
On lap 125, Busch went sideways after drifting up the track in front of Noah Gragson’s No. 4 Ford Mustang. His No. 8 Chevrolet skated across the surface and drilled the inside retaining wall on the backstretch nose-first after Gragson gave Busch a hefty push. After the crash, Busch didn’t bite his tongue, pointing the finger at Gragson, saying the driver “never checked up” and instead rammed him as hard as he could, giving Busch no window to gather up his car.
The two go way back, and Busch most likely felt the least the 27-year-old could have done was give him a moment to straighten out, given Gragson once raced under the Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) banner for two seasons (2017–18) in the Craftsman Truck Series. He said, “I didn’t get the best of exits off of Turn 2 there.”
“Was a little crossed up, not bad when I got out there to the wall, and just perfect timing for the 4 [Gragson] to just ram me as hard as he could and send me spinning instead of just checking up for a second, making sure I was straight, hitting me softly. But it’s just what they all do. They just all run through you. Doesn’t matter if you’re aimed the right way or not.”
Kyle Busch on his day-ending crash. #NASCAR
— Above The Yellow Line Media (@ATYLmedia) February 22, 2026
The RCR driver climbed out under his own power and got checked and cleared at the infield care center, but his ride had to be hauled away, bringing out the caution. The damage stayed contained to one car, but the fallout stuck as Busch was tagged with a P34 finish and a DNF. The race itself went down to the wire, with Tyler Reddick sealing it in a double-overtime finish.
Busch came into Sunday sitting 14th in the Cup standings after a 15th-place run in the season-opening Daytona 500, but the Atlanta blow sent him sliding down the order to P24.
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