Kyle Busch left Atlanta without much to chew on, even after cashing in a Truck win at the same track on Friday. Despite starting the Cup race from 14th, there was not much he could do, and for that he blamed Noah Gragson. Others, including Denny Hamlin, however, saw the incident from a different view.
Busch worked his way to P7 by the end of Stage 1, but once Stage 2 started and he was running P13 on lap 125, he snapped sideways after drifting up the track in front of Gragson’s No. 4 Ford Mustang. His Chevrolet skated across the surface and slammed nose-first into the inside retaining wall on the backstretch after Gragson gave him a shove.
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Later, Busch did not hold back and was highly critical of Gragson, saying the driver “never checked up” and instead ran through him, leaving no room to straighten the car. Still, Busch’s former teammate Hamlinstated that Busch painted himself into that corner and had to live with the fallout.
On a recent episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin weighed in. “Yeah, it’s that’s tough on the Next (Gen) car. So if you’re Noah, if you do this giant lift-and-break moment to give the guy the spot, then you’re opening yourselves up for someone else doing to you what he ended up doing to Kyle.”
Hamlin added that squeezing into tight holes comes with strings attached. If a driver lifts to slot in, they leave the other driver, who they are cutting off, hanging out to dry, forcing them to lift and risk getting turned. In today’s field, most drivers keep the foot down rather than roll the dice.
After hearing Busch’s post-race take, Hamlin said it sounded like Busch admitted he was out of shape and that Gragson may have tried to help but missed the mark. Still, the #11 JGR driver doubled down on the fact that the move is easier said than done.
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Gragson likely had someone breathing down his neck, and when a driver loses balance in the pack, the chain reaction rarely shows mercy. In Hamlin’s view, if Busch is the one who gets sideways, he has to brace for whatever comes next.
After the crash, theRichard Childress Racing driver climbed out under his own power and was checked and cleared at the infield care center, but his car had to be towed away, bringing out the caution. The damage stayed limited to one car, but the sting stayed as Busch was saddled with a P34 and a DNF.
Gragson, meanwhile, kept the wheels turning after the lap 125 run-in and crossed the line P14, logging his second straight top-15 finish of the 2026 season. In the points shuffle after Atlanta, Gragson climbed to 12th in the Cup standings, sitting well ahead of Busch, who now finds himself mired in 24th.
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