CUP: Lock-up during Mexico City’s rainy opening laps sends Kyle Busch careening into last place
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
PHOTO: Luis Cano, Getty Images
Kyle Busch picked up the 13th last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s Viva Mexico 250 at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez when his #8 Lucas Oil Chevrolet crashed after 6 of 100 laps.
The finish, which came in Busch’s 730th series start, was his first of the season and first in a Cup Series race since August 6, 2023 at Michigan, 65 races ago. In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 35th for the #8, the 688th from a crash, and the 872nd for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 54th for the #8, the 1,421st from a crash, and the 1,995th for Chevrolet.
Busch’s most recent last-place finish occurred eight races after his most recent win, which came at Gateway that June. Since then, he’s won another three Truck Series races for his former team, now owned by Spire Motorsports, but hasn’t won a Cup Series points-paying race. The 2024 season was his first full Cup season without a victory, ending a streak of 19 consecutive seasons dating back to his first victories in his Rookie of the Year campaign in 2005. Through the first 15 races of the current season - where he’s extended his contract with Richard Childress Racing through 2026 - his best finish came in the season’s first road course race at COTA, taking 5th.
Busch arrived at Mexico City as the most recent NASCAR driver to win at the track, leading 22 laps on his way to victory in the XFINITY race on April 20, 2008. Busch wouldn’t run double-duty with either the XFINITY Series or NASCAR Mexico Series, turning his focus to Sunday’s inaugural event. Of the 37 entrants, he ranked 15th in Friday’s opening practice with a best lap of 94.607 seconds (92.086mph), dropped to 28th in final practice despite a faster best lap of 94.532 seconds (92.159mph), then improved again in qualifying to take 11th with a lap of 93.084 seconds (93.593mph).
Securing the 37th and final starting spot was Katherine Legge, whose #78 e.l.f. Cosmetics Chevrolet for Live Fast Motorsports was the lone “open” entry on the grid. She’d be joined at the back by Noah Gragson, who was sent to a backup car after his #4 Long John Silver’s Ford locked the brakes and bounced off the outside wall in practice. Gragson helped the team re-wrap Front Row Motorsports’ flat black backup car, which still had a black nose on race day. Gragson was also one of at least three drivers feeling ill before the start, including Ross Chastain and polesitter Shane van Gisbergen.
When the green flag dropped, Gragson was last across the stripe, 3.158 seconds back of the lead to the now 36th-place Legge’s 3.040. But by the time the leaders entered the stadium section on the opening lap, intensifying rain from the Turn 9 side of the course brought out the caution. As NASCAR declared the track damp, telling the teams to turn on their flashing taillights, Legge resumed the last spot, 38.733 seconds back of the lead as cars ran slowly across the stripe. Legge remained in last as she got her wet-weather tires with most of the field, other than Chris Buescher and Austin Cindric who stayed out on slicks.
On the Lap 5 restart, Legge remained in the 37th spot, now 11.879 seconds back of the lead, with the field running much slower in rainy conditions. By the start of Lap 6, Legge was now 21.001 back of the lead, more than six seconds back of new 36th-place runner Ryan Truex, filling in for Denny Hamlin in the #11 Yahoo! Toyota, 14.199 back of the lead. Later in that lap, when the broadcast showed the cars navigate the stadium section, there was no sign of Legge as Truex followed the tail end of the field through the chicane. At the stripe, Legge was now 30.087 back of the lead. But soon, the caution would come out again.
Heading into Turn 1, Kyle Busch was in 12th and was just starting to step up his aggression on the wet-weather tires. As he caught Chase Briscoe’s #19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota for the 11th spot, Busch lost control, cut hard to the right, then slid into a pack of cars negotiating the corner. The left-rear of his car struck the back of Justin Haley’s #7 Gainbridge Chevrolet, sending Busch spinning into Kyle Larson’s #5 Valvoline Chevrolet and spinning A.J. Allmendinger’s #16 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet into the grass. Briscoe was also collected when, to Busch’s left, Haley’s spinning car collided with Zane Smith’s #38 Benebone Ford.
Of those involved, Busch, Larson, and Smith had the most damage – Larson with a bent right-front wheel and Smith with a twisted left-rear wheel. On Lap 8, first Larson, then Busch pulled behind the wall into the “Damaged Vehicle Policy” zone, which for Mexico City was behind the pit buildings and across from the team haulers near the stadium section. Busch’s crew went to work to the left of Larson’s, both with hoods lifted. Smith, meanwhile, was getting repairs on pit road, and was first shown in last place on that eighth lap. Briscoe, Haley, and Allmendinger returned to the track with Haley and Briscoe now one lap down.
On Lap 11, with repairs complete, NASCAR first told Smith he’d exceeded the “Crash Clock” by a few seconds, meaning he’d have to pull into the garage for a moment then return to the track. Smith pulled forward and turned into the garage entrance in front of Ryan Preece’s stall – Stall 5, near pit exit. He briefly stopped to the left of Busch and Larson, then was directed back out of the garage the way he came, sending him out through two opening gates and back onto pit road. “This is the stupidest fucking thing,” remarked a member of his crew. Smith had already been handed a stop-and-go penalty during his repairs, and would then serve this the next time around. This was Lap 12, when Smith was five laps down, that he dropped Busch to last and Larson to 36th. Smith then cleared minimum speed around Lap 15, but remarked that his car still felt broken.
With the weather improving and the leaders back on slick tires, the race continued between Busch and Larson to return to the track. Both teams were still hard at work on Lap 21, when the caution fell to end Stage 1. But by Lap 28, Busch’s crew was no longer visible on the car’s onboard camera. Then on Lap 29 came the message, “They just called it – we’re going to be out.” A moment later, NASCAR declared Busch out of the race. His onboard camera was shut off on Lap 33. Larson’s team completed repairs on Lap 44 and sent him back on track as Stage 2 ended, his car 37 laps down. In the final stage, Larson and his rebuilt car would lose another five laps, but still secured the one-point bonus for fastest lap of the race. Smith took 35th after a flat left-front tire kept halted his progress. Taking 34th was Carson Hocevar, whose #77 Totalplay Chevrolet spun in Turn 15, then glanced off the outside wall in the stadium section, an afternoon capped by a post-race confrontation with Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. Ty Dillon rounded out the Bottom Five in 33rd after a strong start to the race, ultimately losing a lap in his #10 Ohio Logistics Chevrolet.
Bowman, Nemechek rebound from Michigan issues while McDowell and Custer impress
On a weekend where he had Anthony Alfredo on standby, anticipating a possible substitution following back injuries suffered in his crash at Michigan last Sunday, Alex Bowman went the distance and finished in 4th, marking only his third top-five finish of the year and snapping a streak of three consecutive finishes of 29th or worse.
The battle for 5th place in the final laps went to Michael McDowell in the #71 B’laster Chevrolet, closing out a weekend where his car was fastest in opening practice. This was McDowell’s first Top Five of the season, besting his previous mark of 7th in the Coca-Cola 600, and his best overall performance since he contended for the race late at Texas before a crash put him 26th.
Taking the 6th spot was John Hunter Nemechek, whose surprise season continued despite at least one incident in his #42 Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota. Nemechek worked his way into the Top 10 in the final stage from a distant 32nd on the staring grid, securing his fifth top-ten finish of the season and first since Kansas. He also bounced back from his first DNF of the year last Sunday in Michigan, where crash damage left him 34th.
Equally impressive was Cole Custer, who after several skirmishes through the field also battled near the front of the pack before settling back in 8th in his #41 HaasTooling.com Ford. Coming into Sunday, Custer’s best finish of the year with the reorganized Haas Factory Team was a 13th in Talladega, and he hadn’t finished in the Top 10 since September 17, 2022 at Bristol.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first last-place finish for the #8 in a Cup Series race on a road course since February 1, 1969, when Bob England’s #8 1969 Chevrolet lost the engine after 1 lap of the Motor Trend 500 at the Riverside International Raceway.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
37) #8-Kyle Busch / 6 laps / crash
36) #5-Kyle Larson / 58 laps / running
35) #38-Zane Smith / 76 laps / drivetrain
34) #77-Carson Hocevar / 99 laps / running
33) #10-Ty Dillon / 99 laps / running
2025 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Kaulig Racing, Legacy Motor Club (2)
2nd) 23XI Racing, Garage 66, Hendrick Motorsports, Hyak Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, NY Racing Team, Penske Racing, RFK Racing, Richard Childress Racing, Rick Ware Racing, Spire Motorsports, Trackhouse Racing (1)
2025 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (8)
2nd) Ford, Toyota (4)
2025 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
