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Kyle Busch 'disappointed' Ricky Stenhouse didn't contact him after Daytona wreck

Nick Bromberg
·College football and motorsports writer


Kyle Busch said he didn’t hear from Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in the days that followed the wreck that sent Busch into the wall at Daytona.

Busch and Stenhouse were racing behind race leader William Byron just after a massive crash had taken out a ton of top cars Saturday night. Stenhouse’s car slid up into Busch’s and sent Busch into the wall. Byron also went spinning and other cars were collected. But not Stenhouse’s, who emerged as the race leader.

It can be customary — but not mandatory — for a driver to reach out to another in the days that follow an incident. Busch said Stenhouse did not contact him.

What Busch said

“You wipe out half the field and pretty sure there would be a pretty busy Monday for him, but there wasn’t, so apparently he just doesn’t care,” Busch said.

He didn’t stop there. When asked if the way he races with Stenhouse would change after the wreck, Busch had this to say:

“I can’t – I can’t worry about people that far back in the field,” Busch said.

It’s worth noting that Stenhouse played a pivotal role in Busch’s dramatic last-lap win over Kyle Larson the week before. Stenhouse and Busch made contact as Busch was trying to lap Stenhouse and other cars entering turn 3 on the penultimate lap.

Take a look at what happened here.

Stenhouse showed remorse Saturday night

It’s worth noting that Stenhouse hasn’t been nonchalant or callous about what happened on Saturday. He played a significant role in that first big crash, which happened as he was pushing Brad Keselowski to a potential pass for the lead that was thwarted by a Byron block.

“I was frustrated with myself causing crashes like that,” Stenhouse said. “You don’t ever really want to do that.”

Stenhouse, who finished 17th after getting caught up in two more crashes, is currently one spot out of the playoff field in 16th in the points standings. He raced so hard at Daytona because the track was his best and maybe only shot to win and seal a playoff berth.

He probably crossed the line between aggressive and too aggressive, but that’s easy to do when you’re racing for a playoff berth at a restrictor plate track.

“You try to be so aggressive to stay up front,” Stenhouse said. “It’s hard to get your track position and keep the lead and to win these races you really need to be the leader to win the stages and really kind of control the field and I felt like when I was in the front I could kind of control the field and make them do what I wanted them to do.”

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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.

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