Busch was racing alongside the No. 27 car of Paul Menard, which appeared to have a left-rear tire go flat and slid into Busch’s No. 41, sending it hard into the inside wall.
“We had a tough night,” Busch said. “You’ve got to be ready for battle on these restarts. There just wasn’t enough give. Too much take. For me, we had a tough night. We were trying to get the loose and tight worked out. He’s (Menard) just sideways. He just pushed too hard. That’s what happens when I didn’t give him enough room. He overdrove.
“I was right there on our limit. It’s the end of our night. It was just a tough night for all the hard work that goes into it. All these races come down to the restarts at the end. There’s no such thing as a long green-flag run anymore. And you’ve got to be ready to battle on these restarts. The problem is that everybody’s got good give and take early in the race, nobody has it at the end. A tough night for our Haas Automation/Monster Energy team.”
Busch started fourth in the 40-car field Sunday, but he fell back as he struggled with an ill-handling racecar. Crew chief Tony Gibson called for wedge and air pressure adjustments on each pit stop but was unable to find the right combinations to give Busch what he needed.
Despite the handling woes, Busch was able to maintain position just outside the top-10. He was running in 15th with 41 laps to go when his tough night got much worse: Menard made contact with the rear end of the No. 41, which was sent spinning across the track and into the wall, resulting in heavy damage to the left side and rear end of the Haas Automation/Monster Energy Chevrolet. Busch was unable to drive his car back to the garage, and there was too much damage to return to the race.
Busch’s teammate Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Busch Beer Chevrolet SS, led the four-car SHR contingent Sunday by finishing second.
Danica Patrick, driver of the No. 10 Nature’s Bakery Chevrolet SS for SHR, finished 24th.
Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Coca-Cola Chevrolet SS for SHR, finished 35th after an engine issue put him out of the race on lap 317.
Martin Truex Jr. won the Southern 500 by 0.606 of a second over Harvick to score his fifth career Sprint Cup victory, his second of the season and his first at Darlington.
Kyle Larson finished third, while Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano rounded out the top-five. Matt Kenseth, Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman, Brad Keselowski and Chase Elliott comprised the remainder of the top-10.
There were 10 caution periods for 52 laps, with eight drivers failing to finish the 367-lap race around the 1.366-mile, egg-shaped oval.
With round 25 of 36 complete, Harvick leads SHR and the series in the championship standings. He is first with 840 points, 43 ahead of second-place Keselowski. Busch is sixth with 728 points, 112 behind Harvick. Patrick is 23rd with 467 points, 120 ahead of 31st place. Stewart is 27th with 426 points, 79 ahead of 31st.
Harvick, Busch and Stewart are all eligible to compete in the 16-driver, 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, which begins after the Sept. 10 race at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway. All have won a race this season and are among the top-30 in points, the two requirements necessary to secure a spot in the Chase. Patrick can also earn a Chase berth by winning a race and staying inside the top-30. Just one race remains before the Chase begins Sept. 18 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois.
The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond. The last race before the Chase starts at 7:30 p.m. EDT Saturday, Sept. 10, with live coverage provided by NBCSN.
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