Montoya crashes in practice; Busch’s car damaged

Juan Montoya's trip to Las Vegas Motor Speedway got off to a decidedly rocky start in Friday's first Sprint Cup practice. And his problem inadvertently became Kyle Busch's, as well.

Montoya crashed his No. 42 Chevrolet shortly after getting up to speed on his first lap around the 1.5-mile oval. And Busch wound up sidelined, as well, when a piece of Montoya's car — perhaps a broken brake rotor — punched a large hole in the left-front valance of Busch's No. 18 Toyota.

"It felt really good in [Turns] 3 and 4," Montoya said. "I went into [Turn] 1 and got a little tight over the bumps. So I got on the gas and it just stepped out on me. I thought, 'My God,' and I was in the fence."

Montoya's car suffered heavy right-side damage, forcing the team to pull out the backup. He returned to the track about 80 minutes later and was able to get in six laps of practice. His fastest lap — 183.755 mph — was 31st out of the 45 cars which recorded speeds.

Busch assisted his team as they worked to fashion a patch to cover the damage on his car. He only made five laps during the 90-minute session, although he was 20th-quickest at 186.303 mph (speeds).

Montoya said the team had tested this week with the idea of carrying some positive momentum into Sunday's Kobalt Tools 400 — and now is back to square one.

"I thought we made a lot of gains," Montoya said. "The car looked very promising, but it's still early in the week."