Race Weekend Central

Kyle Busch Blows Engine Early in Michigan

Circling lap 54 during Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway, the day was done for Kyle Busch, who suffered a fire-breathing engine failure down the backstretch.

Shortly following a lap-51 restart, Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota appeared to break loose in turn two before losing a number of positions. After Casey Mears took his No. 13 Chevrolet to the garage, Busch followed, as the No. 18 finally caught fire after 30 laps of issues, says Busch.

“At least I had a 30-lap warning that it was coming,” Busch said. “It had been just shaking really bad.”

With three consecutive finishes of 30th or worse entering Michigan, the three-time winner this season took another rough hit Sunday, finishing 31st or worse for a fifth time in the last six Michigan races.

“It’s just unfortunate,” Busch said. “Not just today but the last four races have been really, really bad. It’s a good thing we started off the season as good as we did.

“We got to get this luck turned around and get going in the right direction.”

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