Craziest Moment from Martinsville: Brake failure and ensuing fire end Kurt Busch’s day
Kurt Busch's eventful day ended with his engine in flames 15 laps before the finish of Sunday's Sprint Cup Series race at Martinsville.
In this case, eventful is not a synonym for "good" or "great."
On lap 294, Busch spun around after making contact with David Gilliland entering turn three. And that was in addition to a fuel pump problem that left Busch 29 laps down at the time of his final incident, which was caused by a brake failure entering turn one.
"Something happened with the brakes," Busch said. "The pedal felt spongy going into three and four and I gave it a courtesy pump and it came to. I go down the front straightaway and gave it another courtesy pump and it went straight to the floor. Something failed with it and I just turned it to the right and fenced it instead of running head on into the fence."
After making contact with the wall, Busch quickly pulled the in-car fire extinguisher trigger, which doused the flames before safety crews had a chance to reach his car and he climbed out unhurt. Busch finished 37th.
