Things have gone from bad to worse for Kyle Busch, and the man who began the day as the point leader is out of the Kobalt Tools 400.
On the second restart after a yellow caused by debris from his flat right front tire, Busch’s engine erupted in a plume of smoke, momentarily trailing flames from the back of his No. 18 Toyota.
Busch, the Las Vegas native who won here in 2009, ran as high as second before a flat tire caused him to brush the wall on the frontstretch. He recieved the Lucky Dog Free Pass under that caution, but his engine grenaded on the first lap after a restart from a spin by his brother Kurt Busch and Kasey Kahne.
Denny Hamlin, Busch’s teammate, had to change an engine earlier this weekend, and Joey Logano blew an engine one week ago.