Kyle Busch left Texas Motor Speedway with another disappointing race and a clash with John Hunter Nemechek. The Athletic’s Jordan Bianchi and Jeff Gluck discussed whether it is worthy of a penalty by NASCAR.
Busch’s 2026 Cup season has been difficult. Richard Childress Racing changed the No. 8 crew chiefs after 10 races, after the 41-year-old had only one top-10 finish and sat 27th in the standings. With Andy Street replacing Jim Pohlman, Texas looked like a fresh start. Busch qualified in and ran near the front for much of the race, but the late restart turned a solid day into another disappointment.
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On Monday’s episode of the “Teardown” podcast, Bianchi criticized the incident and called Kyle Busch’s retaliation a poor decision on his part.
“Could be, potentially, especially if you’re on a high-speed, mile-and-a-half racetrack, you’re going into a corner,” Bianchi said. “This overall, whether there’s a penalty or not, this is just poor decision-making.
“Really, the most complete race this team has probably had all year, beginning to end. And instead, you get involved in this tit-for-tat fighting over 12th, and you end up finishing 20th. And now you’ve got John Arnimichuk, who’s mad at you.”
Busch began 11th on the final restart and tried to work his way forward in the final laps. He and Nemechek made contact while fighting for 12th, pushing Busch’s car to the wall. After that, Busch turned back into Nemechek and sent the No. 42 Chevrolet into the outside wall.
Meanwhile, Gluck pushed back on the idea of NASCAR stepping in to hand out a penalty for the move:
“Door-slamming somebody after you feel like you just got wronged is part of it. That’s part of this Cup Series racing, and that’s the kind of stuff that sell places on the track. I would hate to see NASCAR step in and discourage that at this point, because, I mean, yeah, he wrecked them, but he also felt like he got wrecked, so they should be able to figure that out among themselves.”
Busch, who is 26th in the NASCAR Cup points standings, finished the 2026 Wurth 400 in 20th place, and Nemechek ended in 21st.
“I did not start this” – Kyle Busch defends his move against John Hunter Nemechek
Kyle Busch shared SMT telemetry footage from his No. 8 car and defended his actions against Legacy Motor Club’s John Hunter Nemechek.
The clip showed steering inputs and car positioning before contact, and he used the data to argue that Nemechek moved down the track first, claiming the No. 42 misjudged its space near the outside wall.
“I did not start this. The 42 apparently doesn’t know where the RS (right side) of his car is and where he is in relation to the outside wall. There was 2 ft outside him and I was judging my left side tires to the hash marks. Always know who your racing beside,” Busch wrote on X.
Busch is yet to break his 100-plus winless streak in the NASCAR Cup Series, which will head to Watkins Glen for its second road course race of the 2026 season this weekend.
Edited by R. Elahi
