NASCAR insiders Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi discussed Kyle Busch's post-race reaction at the Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono Raceway. Busch and #7 Corey LaJoie were involved in an on-track incident on Lap 121, where LaJoie sent Busch spinning, resulting in #8 Busch's fifth DNF in the last seven Cup Series races.
Two-time Cup Series champion Busch struggles to make his mark in the 2024 season, as he stands winless after 21 races. The 39-year-old is on the brink of missing the NASCAR playoffs for the first time since his full-time debut in 2005. His recent DNF in Pocono extended his 42-race winless streak as Spire Motorsports driver LaJoie clipped him on a restart at Turn 1, causing a multi-car collision on the Tricky Triangle.
In the recent episode of The Teardown podcast, NASCAR analyst Jeff Gluck pretended to be Busch when Jordan Bianchi suggested doing a "dinner theatre" on the wreck caused by LaJoie.Bianchi asked:
"Could be intentional, could be accident. Kyle Bush, what happened there with Corey LaJoie?"
To which Gluck, pretending to be Busch, replied:
"You know, Corey LaJoie helped me build Mario Karts for a social media video that I wanted to do a few years ago. Do you remember this? That's the only good thing about Corey LaJoie because Corey LaJoie is going to get his butt wrecked by me multiple times. I don't care anymore,"
Here, Gluck is referring to a moment a couple of years ago when LaJoie helped Busch build a full-size 4-wheel Mario Kart with his son Brexton for a social media video. Gluck, furthermore added:
"I tell you what, Corey LaJoie, I'm going to make it look, you're not even going to notice. But I'm going to be a ninja about this and Corey LaJoie, my season is done. Just like I told Ricky Stenhouse Jr. on the liftgate, I suck too. So you know what, Corey LaJoie, you want to say that I blocked twice? I didn't block. I blocked once. Then you sent me and now I'm going to send you Corey LaJoy and I don't care if you help me make Mario Cartes again because we're done."
Corey LaJoie defended his move that caused Kyle Busch to spin out
In a post-race interview Corey LaJoie, explained his run on Busch with 40 laps to go resulting in a DNF for the latter. Meanwhile, LaJoie crossed the checkered flag at P19 at the Trick Triangle.
The 32-year-old LaJoie believed that the restarts at Pocono were crazy and the drivers had to go to the bottom to claim the field. LaJoie in the interview said (via racer.com):
"I got a big push from [Allmendinger] and it was like four wide, and I went to the left rear of [Busch], and he blocked it once and I stayed straight. I was anticipating our bumpers lining up and then pushing him forward and him taking a lane. But he blocked again when I had more position on him, and [I] spun him out."
Moreover, LaJoie admitted that he hated it, but admitted "That's just what you have to do".
"That’s just how the racing is. You have to be super aggressive on restarts and sometimes you’re the windshield and sometimes you’re the bug."
Here's a glimpse of the incident from Corey LaJoie's in-car camera:
As NASCAR heads towards the Brickyard 400 race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Corey LaJoie sits at P30 with one top-5 and one top-10 finish. Kyle Busch, on the other hand, is now 98 points away from the playoff cutline with five races remaining in the regular Cup Series season.