"We got ‘Chastained’ this week" - Kyle Busch figures he was 'on the wrong side of the strategy' after P9 finish at NASCAR Richmond race

Kyle Busch is the latest driver to join the club of drivers who have had contact with Ross Chastain on track in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season. The Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond Raceway saw the Joe Gibbs Racing driver and Trackhouse Racing driver come together and spin out on the track, hampering both their finishes in the race.

The #18 M&Ms Toyota Camry TRD driver was on the receiving end of the stick when the resulting contact with Chastain not only spun the two cars around, but a caution flag caused by a spinning Christopher Bell did not allow the 37-year-old to pit and get new tires. This allowed drivers such as Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing's Chris Buescher to make up ground on Busch as he fell back in the pack.

The Las Vegas, Nevada native was ultimately able to salvage a top-10 result out of the 400-mile-long race, which is still a decent result. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver explained what happened as he saw it from the cockpit of his car, and said:

“We were looking okay, and in a good spot just coming up through there working our way methodically through the field with our M&M’s Toyota Camry, and we got ‘Chastained’ this week. We were his victim this week. And then that didn’t hurt us too bad. We restarted back in a decent spot. But then the next spin I think, was Christopher (Bell). That allowed the guys that were around us that we were kind of racing some of our team guys to come get tires and then they had 10 fresher laps on tires the whole rest of the day.”

Kyle Busch on strategic calls during the NASCAR race at Richmond

2019 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch was also not particularly impressed with the #18 crew's strategic calls during the 400-mile-long race. He made his thoughts clear post-race and said:

“So that kind of hurt us if we would have been on that strategy we would have run out of tires, but we also probably would have been in the top five. So just wrong side of the strategy there. At the end, nothing, nothing to do really to flip that but good fight all day long. You know, the top 10 is about what we had anyway, I figured the best we were it was about a seventh you know, but barring a strategy call, we could have probably been top-five.”

Catch Kyle Busch racing next week as NASCAR goes live from Watkins Glen International for the Go Bowling at The Glen.