BROOKLYN, Mich. — It only took 25 laps in Sunday’s Firekeepers Casino 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway for several drivers to lose a shot at a win.
Aric Almirola, Austin Cindric and Kurt Busch were among those caught in a chaotic crash on lap 25 of 200 after restarting mid-pack following the lap-21 competition caution.
Damage eliminated all three drivers from competition.
The nine-car incident has continued Busch’s stretch of bad luck this season and the past Michigan winner finished outside the top 10 for the eighth consecutive race.
“Just got squeezed between the 10 [Aric Almirola] spinning and myself and the fence. Just don’t get it man, just can’t buy a break right now,” Busch said.
Cindric, driver of the No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang, shared the general sentiment of frustration after making hard head-on contact with the wall, adding that he felt it was an “absolute waste to come out here and just get completely wrecked.”
While Almirola was unsure of how the crash was initiated — he only remembers being hit in the left rear of his No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang — Cindric has his own theory.
“I don’t think anybody did anything wrong there. They were trying to race, it’s just the cars in the middle of the pack that are trying to race that really, quite frankly, aren’t at the same level,” Cindric said. “It’s just a byproduct of a crazy restart with 300 miles left in the race.”
The drivers will now have to wait until Richmond (Va.) Raceway on Aug. 14 to have a chance for redemption.
Also involved in the incident were J.J. Yeley, Harrison Burton, Michael McDowell, Todd Gilliland, Ty Gibbs and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.