CONCORD, N.C. -- Kyle Busch maintains that what happened between him and Kasey Kahne last weekend at Darlington was unintentional and just the byproduct of hard racing. Busch says the two drivers have since "communicated" and that he plans to race Kahne the same way he always has for the rest of the season.
NASCAR All-Star Race 2013: Kyle Busch communicated with Kasey Kahne following Darlington accident
Kyle Busch says he wouldn’t blame Kasey Kahne for intentionally wrecking him in Saturday night’s NASCAR All-Star race -- or any upcoming event.
Jeff Zelevansky
The two were racing for the lead at Darlington following a lap-332 restart when Busch went straight into the corner, slid up the track and appeared to take air off the back of Kahne’s Chevrolet. The maneuver sent Kahne spinning into the wall and blaming Busch for costing him a chance at the victory.
Darlington was the third time this season that the two have clashed, following a pair of altercations at Daytona and Talladega. Busch said on Friday at Charlotte Motor Speedway that what happened in their first two accidents were merely mistakes, with Darlington a matter of just racing for the win.
"The first two instances were a mistake, just misjudgment,” Busch said. “Kasey admitted it, he had to get on the brakes in Daytona and checked up a little bit and I ran over him. You couldn't really see through the cars in front of you to see what was happening. Daytona I just misjudged, I wanted to pull out and thought last second that I was going to stay in line and push Kasey. I turned him sideways when I was coming back in line. Last week was just hard racing. It's all about track position in these races. For us, we were racing as hard as we could. He pulled a huge slide job in Turn 3. I got back to his inside. I'd been running down there on the flat all night. But it doesn't matter if we touched because either way, I caused it.
“But you can’t just pull over and let him go either. If I hadn’t pulled back under him, with track position like it is, I may not have gotten a second chance to get back around.”
Busch says he doesn’t expect any retaliation from Kahne but wouldn’t be too upset if it happened. He just hopes that if payback does come, Kahne won’t make it “hurt too bad.”
“Racing up front, racing hard, I’m sure there will be a moment he could come back on me,” Busch said. “I expect it and it’s fine ... But I don’t think Kasey is that kind of guy. But if it happens, I’ll understand.”
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