Chase Elliott Flips Off Kyle Busch After Getting Spun Into the Wall Late at Darlington
Sports beef is back!
NASCAR drivers have some of the best beef in all of sports. Theirs is the only sport where doing something wrong can easily get someone killed. So it’s not uncommon to see drivers hold grudges against one another, or just straight-up fight.
Well, NASCAR is back—and so is the beef.
Wednesday night's race at Darlington was shortened by rain, but not before Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch caused a little controversy.
With 28 laps to go, Elliott was running second behind eventual winner Denny Hamlin. Busch tried to sneak in behind Elliott but collided with his rear tire and sent Elliott careening into the inside wall.
An irate Elliott refused to be checked out by medics until he could give Busch the finger as he came around the track again.
Busch recognized that he had messed up, saying after the race that he “made a mistake and just misjudged the gap” between Elliott and the car behind him. Busch spoke with Elliott’s crew, and it didn’t sound like his apology was expected.
“They’re upset. They’re mad,” Busch said. “I’m not just gonna fix it and we’re gonna go have ice cream tomorrow. Obviously they’re gonna have to dwell on it and the repercussions I’m sure I’m gonna have later on down the road.”
Alan Gustafson, Elliott’s crew chief, was ticked off that his team was denied an opportunity to win.
Elliott had a real chance of winning the race, a chance made even greater by the weather. Elliott’s wreck brought out a caution flag, and while the race was still running under caution, rain began. Once the skies opened up, the race was called.
Hamlin, meanwhile, may have been saved by the weather. His tires were getting worn down and his pit crew didn’t have enough fresh ones left to give him a whole new set, so they were trying to glue some old ones back together.
Let’s see whether there are any fireworks when Elliott and Busch get back on the track on Saturday in Charlotte at the Coca-Cola 600.
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