Kyle Busch will miss the Daytona 500 after he injured his right leg during a multi-car accident in the closing laps of Saturday's 300-mile Xfinity Series race at Daytona International Speedway.
Officials from NASCAR said shortly after Busch's accident that he was awake and alert and undergoing treatment for an unspecified right leg injury, but he will not participate in Sunday's 57th running of the Daytona 500.
Busch, the driver of the No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Sprint Cup Series, was scheduled to start fourth in the Dayton 500. JGR did not immediately announce a replacement driver for Busch in the No. 18 car.
With eight laps remaining in the Xfinity season-opening race at Daytona, Busch was one of 11 drivers involved in the wreck that occurred on the frontstretch. He lost control and then veered off the track before he slid onto the infield grass and slammed head-on into the inside retaining wall. The wall where Busch hit does not have the SAFER (steel and foam energy reduction) barrier on it.
Erik Jones, who is Busch's JGR teammate in Xfinity, triggered the incident when he spun out and collected several cars running in a tight pack. It was the second time in the race a major crash happened on the frontstretch. An accident there on lap 93 involved 11 drivers as well.
Busch struggled to climb out of his heavily damaged No. 54 Toyota and then laid down on the grass near his car, as he appeared to be in excruciating pain.
Safety personnel placed Busch on a stretcher and stabilized his right leg. He was immediately transported by ambulance to nearby Halifax Medical Center for further evaluation.
Busch's accident occurred just hours after his elder brother, Kurt, lost his initial appeal to be reinstated from an indefinite suspension. NASCAR suspended Kurt Busch on Friday after a Delaware family court ruled that he committed an act of domestic violence against his ex-girlfriend Patricia Driscoll.
Ryan Reed won the Xfinity race after he passed Brad Keselowski on the final lap and then held off his Roush Fenway Racing teammate, Chris Buescher, at the finish by just 0.089 seconds. It was the first victory for Reed in NASCAR's second-tier series.
Busch holds the record for most career victories in the series with 70. He also has 29 career wins in Sprint Cup and 42 in the Truck Series. He finished 10th in last year's championship Chase point standings.
[SportsNetwork.com]
