Richard Childress Racing cars wreck out in stage one at Texas

FORT WORTH, TEXAS — The AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 was over for Richard Childress Racing before stage one even ended Sunday.

Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch bowed out of the NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway due to wrecks in the first 80 laps.

Dillon ran 13th before pitting on lap 39 for four tires. When he did, the crew didn’t get the right-rear tire tight enough.

Dillon found out on lap 41.

As he went into turn three, the wheel broke off and sent him crashing into the outside wall driver’s side first.

Dillon exited the car OK. He finished 36th – last – and out after 40 laps.

Up front, Kyle Busch had one of the best cars until a big moment on lap 59. That dropped him from third to eighth and sent his day spiraling.

Busch believed he had a front tire going flat but decided to ride out the problem. However, on lap 74, his car snapped sideways and slammed into the outside wall in turn one.

Busch’s crew couldn’t fix the damage, ending his day in 34th – out of the race after 73 laps.

Sunday was the only time both RCR cars finished in the bottom three spots in a race.

Worse yet for Kyle Busch, he is now 12th – last – in the playoff standings, -17 to the cutline.

To his credit, Busch goes to Talladega Superspeedway as the most recent winner at the track.

The YellaWood 500 goes green at Talladega just after 2 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN affiliates and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Ch. 90.