Matt Kenseth won the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Kansas Speedway, but the bigger story from today’s event could stretch into tomorrow’s Sprint Cup race at the 1.5-mile oval.
That’s because on Lap 188 of 200, Kyle Busch got into the back of Brad Keselowski coming off of Turn 4 and sent him spinning into the front-stretch wall, rear end first.
Once Keselowski hopped out of his damaged No. 22 Penske Racing Ford, he ran across the infield grass while pointing toward Busch’s pit box then took a left and jogged toward the infield care center. Afterwards, Keselowski proceeded to rip Busch verbally.
“I got wrecked by a dirty driver,” Keselowski said. “There is no other way of putting it. He is cool with that. I have raced him really cool over the last year to be respectful to him and try to repair our relationship. I’ve watched him wreck my trucks and keep me from winning races. He put me in the fence in Chicago in the truck race and the Nationwide races, he has been pulling this crap.
“It is not gonna last, I can tell you that. I feel bad for the guys next to me that are going to have to fix his stuff. That is going to be part of racing and they are going to have to deal with it.”
According to the Associated Press, Busch maintained that his No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota simply got tight coming off the corner, which forced the car to move up into Keselowski.
“It was hard racing,” Busch told the AP. “There were a lot of moments where I may be felt a little crowded. The contact that ultimately ended it, I just got real tight.”
One has to wonder if Keselowski will be out for revenge during tomorrow’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas, the fourth race in the 2013 Chase for the Sprint Cup. If so, that could be trouble for Busch, who sits third in the Chase at 12 points behind teammate Matt Kenseth.
“He has a lot more to lose than I do,” Keselowski said per the AP. “I guess that’s the good thing about not being in the Chase.”
As for the NNS title battle, Austin Dillon has taken over the points lead with a sixth-place result this afternoon. He now leads the NNS standings by eight points over Sam Hornish Jr., who finished 17th after tagging the wall earlier in the race.
