Busch learning from IndyCar crash


May 21, 2014 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

With one sudden spin and slam into the wall, Kurt Busch’s IndyCar burst into flames.

His shot at The Double, almost up in smoke.

Busch walked away unscathed, his car totaled for this weekend’s Indy 500. He’ll have an Andretti Autosport backup ready to go for race day, when he tries to make history by becoming only the second driver to complete 1,100 total miles by racing in the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca Cola 600 in the same day.

“You’re here this morning, you’re upright, you’re OK, but you crashed yesterday,” host Matt Lauer said on NBC’s “Today” show over a photo of Busch’s No. 26 Honda on fire.

He sure did, and it was a doozy. Busch spun coming out of the second turn on the 2.5-mile oval and smacked into the outside wall. It was the biggest crash of the month.

Busch was lucky his accident didn’t cost him more than a car. And his Tony Stewart-owned NASCAR team surely said a big thanks that one of their key cogs won’t miss any time in his day job.

“I’ll get over it quick. I’ve wrecked cars before,” Busch said. “I got sideways, I tried to correct it. I had it for a moment, but then I tried to overcorrect it.”

Busch is attempting to become the fourth driver to complete the back-to-back race feat known as “The Double.” He’s making his debut in IndyCar, and the 2004 Cup champion acknowledged that he made a rookie mistake on the track.

“We made a couple of changes, it was back to my most confident feel in the car,” he said. “I just got too aggressive with sway bar changes, weight jacker changes, and didn’t stay up on top of my adjustments.”

At 1,500 pounds, IndyCars are lighter and have less horsepower than the 3,500-pound cars in NASCAR Busch usually drives. That leaves IndyCars more susceptible to flips and even fatalities. Busch’s crash sent tires and other debris strewn across the track.

The compact stock cars are designed for bangin’ and crashin’ and side-by-side racing. Unlike the sleek IndyCars, stock cars are modeled to look like ones sold on showroom floors.