Kyle Busch and Riley Herbst tangled on two separate occasions in last Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol.
Midway through the 500-lap Food City 500, Herbst’s No. 35 car made contact with Busch’s No. 8 machine, sending the latter spinning coming off turn four.
Later in the race, “Rowdy” retaliated from the previous spin-out by getting into the back of Herbst, sending the 23XI Racing driver spinning.
Following the heated battle with Herbst, Busch reflected on the incident on Saturday in Kansas.
Busch on getting spun out by Herbst: ‘Bonehead moves’
Busch and Herbst have history together, on and off the racetrack.
Herbst formerly competed under Busch’s wing in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports. Off the racetrack, Busch is an investor in some of the stores tied to Herbst’s family business.
When you cannot get along on the track, Busch said it makes it awkward.
“It’s really weird with Riley because they have a nice family business out there in Nevada and I’m a part of that family business being an investor in a couple of the stores. It’s real awkward when you can’t get along with the kid who’s probably one day going to take over that,” Busch said.
Busch pulled no punches when reflecting on what happened at Bristol last Sunday. One thing is for sure, the two-time Cup Series champion was not going to allow Herbst to race him in that manner.
“Bonehead moves. You just keep getting run over and, certainly, I’m not going to take it. That’s just part of it, I guess,” Busch said.
When asked if he has talked to Herbst since the incident, Busch made it clear.
“No,” he said.
The 2026 season has been a struggle for the 40-year-old.
In his fourth season with Richard Childress Racing, Busch sits 24th in the points standings. He has failed to finish top 10 this season and has finished outside the top 20 five times.
Busch denies NextGen car as reason for struggles
During Saturday’s media scrum, Busch was questioned about the struggles this season.
While the driver of the No. 8 only has four wins in the NextGen era, he does not believe the car is the reason for his lackluster performances.
Instead, Busch said it is due to the continuing decline of RCR since he joined the organization in 2023.
“I’ve won NextGen races. I haven’t won as many NextGen races just due to JGR being in a slump of the first year of the NextGen car, I feel like, and then ever since the first year of RCR, I feel like we’ve been deteriorating in our success over there,” Busch said.
In his first season with RCR in 2023, Busch captured three victories. Unfortunately for the Las Vegas native, he has not won since then. Busch has also failed to make the playoffs the last two seasons.
Busch is in a contract year with RCR. He re-signed a one-year deal ahead of 2026 to remain with the team. Yet, his future in the Cup Series is unclear after this season.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post NASCAR: Kyle Busch Opens Up About Riley Herbst Bristol Incident appeared first on Heavy Sports.