Busch Gets Collected in Multicar Wreck During Opening Practice Session

February 15, 2013

Fewer than 10 minutes into the first official practice session of the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, Kurt Busch's No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet SS got collected in a multicar accident, forcing the team to a backup car for Saturday night's Sprint Unlimited non-points race at Daytona International Speedway.

The five-car wreck during the Sprint Unlimited practice session also involved the cars of Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards and Juan Pablo Montoya.

The accident was triggered when Kenseth came down the track and hit Busch, who proceeded to spin and crash into the concrete wall at the 2.5-mile superspeedway.

"That was 100 percent driver error, my driver error," said Kenseth in post-accident interviews.

Following the accident, Busch was taken to the infield medical care center where he was observed and released.

“It’s tough, a lot of hard work goes into these cars," said Busch, who did not practice in the backup car. "Six weeks preparation can be trashed in six laps.  Matt (Kenseth) went high, I think he expected me to go with him, I went low to go with Kyle (Busch) and Matt came across our nose.”

Saturday's schedule at the World Center of Racing includes two Daytona 500 practice sessions and the 75-lap Sprint Unlimited race (8 p.m. ET, FOX).  The Sprint Unlimited will consist of three segments of 30, 25 and 20 laps. The 19-car Sprint Unlimited field is for drivers who won a pole last year and for past champions of the event.  Busch qualified as an event past champion (2011).

The Sprint Cup field returns to the track on Sunday for Daytona 500 Pole Day, 1 p.m. ET on FOX.