When Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch refused to blame each other for Bristol wreck

The Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race in 2018 saw Martin Truex Jr.'s race come to a premature end after a contact with Kyle Busch. However, Truex Jr. decided not to put the blame entirely on Busch. However, Busch, the #18 driver, took the blame on himself.

Truex Jr., the then-Furniture Row Racing driver, was running in contention for a win, or at least for second place. However, the debacle arrived with 68 laps remaining, as he got knocked off by Busch, which subsequently jeopardized his race.

Apparently, the #78 driver was furious, so was his team as the wreck resulted in all their hard work being undone. Despite this, Martin Truex Jr. blamed himself for being ahead of Busch at the time of the contact.

"Half [Busch's] fault, half my fault for following the 14 [of Bowyer] so long," Truex said, as per ESPN. "I should've knocked his butt out of the way because he held me up for 15-20 laps and I burnt my front tires off screwing with him. So just played too nice and got the crappy end of the stick."

On the other hand, Busch did not walk away without finding himself guilty. He acknowledged that his action painfully ended his fellow driver's race. Speaking about the incident, the #18 driver said:

"That was just a misjudgment on my behalf. I crashed the 78 [of Truex], so that was bad. I totally misjudged that one coming off the corner. Knowing there were plenty of laps left, I wasn't even in a hurry, and I just misjudged it by four, six inches, whatever it was, and I clipped him there and sent him for a ride."

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How did Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr.'s race at Bristol turn out?

Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #78 Bass Pro Shops/Ducks Unlimited Toyota, leads Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M's White Chocolate Toyota. (Photo by Sarah Crabill/Getty Images)

Bristol Motor Speedway hosted the 24th race of the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Kurt Busch, the older brother of Kyle Busch, won the night race, while Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott finished in second and third place respectively.

Kyle Busch, who started the race in third place, suffered from a flat tire with 18 laps left while trying to plow through the field. In the end, he finished the race in 20th place.

Martin Truex Jr. went home in 30th place after starting the race from 17th place. Despite the debacle, Busch remained on top of the 2018 NASCAR standings with 1003 points, 43 points ahead of Kevin Harvick in second place. Martin Truex Jr. was in third place with 849 points.