‘Frustrated’ Kyle Busch pulls no punches on NASCAR in sharp critique of the Daytona 500 ruling: “What are we supposed to do?”

Following his crash at the Daytona 500, Kyle Busch slammed NASCAR over its wreck rules. In a post-race interview, the 'frustrated' Richard Childress Racing driver questioned the governing body's 'unclear' rule about repairs after a wreck.

Busch attended an interview after his efforts at the Daytona International Speedway were undone in a crash triggered by Joey Logano and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in Lap 186. As Busch suffered the consequences, he ended the iconic race without a trophy for the 20th consecutive year.

Even though Busch's #8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 did not suffer any major hit in the wreck, it needed some small tweaks to make it race-ready. However, the RCR driver furiously pointed out the 'unclear' rule about the vehicle repair. Speaking about this, Busch told Noah Lewis of TSJ Sports 1 in the post-race interview,

"I had four flat tires out there, and we had this air jack system in the car, mandatory by NASCAR, and the guy carries around an empty air bottle to plug up to the car. But he couldn't plug it up, so I made my own return to the pit road, said I wanted to push. So, they decided for three laps to figure out how to hook it up."

"To tow us back in, towed us into a work area, where our guys looked over the car, they didn't see anything massively wrong. All the wheels were pointed into the right direction with four new tires on it. You go back out to basically see what the next process was gonna be for us. And was told that you need to work on it and repair, and you need to go back to that place. But if you go back to that place, they park you. So what are we supposed to do to continue to work on it?" he asked. (0:20-1:11)

Busch suffered a multi-car wreck at Daytona after Stenhouse Jr. closed the door at the last minute on Joey Logano. As a result, several drivers including Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, and many more suffered the consequences.

---

What does NASCAR's rule book say after a wreck?

NASCAR officials updated the Damaged Vehicle Policy (DVP) for the wrecked cars for the Cup Series season this year. It was revised after multiple incidents where cars that could be repaired were eliminated from races multiple times.

NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Blaney (12), driver Joey Logano (22) and driver Kyle Busch (8) wreck on the back stretch during the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. - Source: Imagn

As per the new DVP rule, damaged cars could be taken to the garage and continue racing. It starts with a seven-minute window to repair the car on the pit road. Once the time is out, the car must be taken to the garage and repaired there. However, there is no time limit for the repairs in the garage.

As for towing to the garage, if a car cannot be driven back to the garage or pit road, and a tow is needed, the car is no longer fit for racing. Once the cars are towed back to the garage, they cannot return to the race.