Kyle Busch’s Daytona dream ends in violent last-lap crash

Kyle Busch made a strong effort to win his first Daytona 500 before being eliminated in a fiery crash on the final lap of NASCAR’s rain-delayed marquee race.

“I saw a window to the outside and all of a sudden I had the 2 car (Brad Keselowski) on my hood,” said the Las Vegas native and two-time Cup Series champion after emerging from his battered car and being credited with 14th place. “We were too far back to make anything happen for a win, but I got clobbered a few good times there.”

Busch was running seventh starting the final lap before the leaders began crashing within sight of the checkered flag. Busch, making a move at the top of the track, made violent contact with Keselowski’s spinning car in the violent wreck.

Older brother Kurt Busch, the 2017 Daytona 500 winner, finished 22nd after being involved in a major crash in the opening laps before heavy rains fell, putting the race under a long delay.

The race was just 14 laps old when Christopher Bell’s car nudged another driven by Aric Almirola just behind the leaders. A huge pileup ensued involving 16 cars.

Kyle Busch was running just behind Bell before the wreck occurred. Kurt Busch’s car sustained significant damage in the crash that put him four laps down when the race finally was restarted.

Many fans took to social media to accuse Kyle Busch of bump-drafting fellow Toyota driver Bell and touching off the crash in which several front-running cars appeared to be wrecked beyond repair.

Busch was having none of it.

“One thing that is always too stupid to do … read Twitter mentions,” he wrote on his own account as drivers continued to wait for the rain to stop, skies to clear and the track to dry.

Contact Ron Kantowski at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow @ronkantowski on Twitter.