With wet track conditions, the NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire saw a multiple-car wreck on Lap 6 leading to a red flag.
The race continued until that point in spite of the drivers complaining to the race control that the track was wet in Turns 1 and 2 from “weepers” during pace laps. The atmosphere had heavy mist too.
NASCAR to discipline Kyle Busch for hitting the pace car – “That’s something we’ll address this week”
Red flag early at @NHMS as the leaders crash due to rain! 😱 pic.twitter.com/CziQCvF8gr
— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) July 18, 2021
It was in lap 6 that the consequences of the condition became visible. Leader Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin all spun on the track. It brought out a caution and eventually a red flag from the race control. But it was too late for Busch as his race was over.
“We started the race under a mist. It never should have gone green to begin with, but then it kept getting worse and worse lap over lap. The lap before I went into (Turn) 1 and it shoved the nose really bad and I was able to keep it under control,” Busch said.
“It wasn’t bad enough. The next time I went down there, hell, I lifted at the flag stand – maybe a little past the flag stand – and just backed it in. We’ve been talking about it for two laps that it was raining. There’s no sense in saying what I want to say, it doesn’t do you any good.
“We’re done, we’re going home. It’s over. There’s no fixing that thing.”
Busch didn’t have a good day at all as he deliberately made contact with the pace car and might have disciplinary action.