"The kid's there to win the race" - Parker Retzlaff's Daytona decision detrimental to Kyle Busch justified by NASCAR Insider

On Saturday, Kyle Busch missed out on yet another chance to win a race this season. The RCR driver was leading the race in the penultimate lap when the #21 of Harrison Burton passed him, and won the race. Interestingly, a big factor behind Burton's win was the driver who gave him the push from behind, the young Parker Retzlaff.

The 21-year-old, who despite being warned by his spotter to not push the Wood Brothers driver, ended up doing so and ended up potentially costing Kyle Busch a famous win.

But as per Freddie Kraft, the spotter of Bubba Wallace and the host of the Door Bumper Clear podcast, Retzlaff did what he should've done.

Speaking on the podcast, Kraft said:

"The kid's there to win the race, that's first and foremost on his mind. I think his thought process was, if he could the #21 far enough out and clear the #8 to get a front of the #8, he had a legitimate shot for the #8 to push him by the #21 on the front stretch. But he didn't get clear." [43:00]

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Parker Retzlaff could get in a tricky spot because of what his decision meant for Kyle Busch at Daytona

Freddie Kraft spoke about Parker Retzlaff being in a tough situation regardless of what he chose to do. Kraft mentioned that on his radio Retzlaff was told to pick the lane behind Kyle Busch, which he didn't do.

Retzlaff was then asked to pick the lane behind Christopher Bell, who was directly behind Kyle Busch, which he again didn't. The spotter claimed it was wrong because if they wanted to manipulate the proceedings by helping the RCR car, the way to do it would've been to pick behind Burton and not push him, which is again what he was asked to do.

Having said that, Kraft said he wondered at what point would such instructions from Retzlaff's spotter be deemed as race manipulation. He also wondered whether the young driver would he have gotten into trouble if had done what he was asked to do.

"If you're lifting off of turn 2, obviously you're not giving a 100%, I know it's expected of him and he probably would have been the third grandson had he held out good enough. But obviously now he drives a Chevy in the Xfinity Series, he's running a Chevy in the Cup Series basically in an RCR-prepared car, and he pushes the guy by an RCR car to win the race. It's tough," Kraft described. [44:15]

The spotter emphasized that in his mind, Retzlaff is a racecar driver who saw a way to win the race.

He justified Retzlaff's actions, saying the latter ended up doing what he felt was right, even though it may not have been the best decision from a team standpoint.