Tough Day at Darlington Ends Kyle Busch’s Title Hopes

Kyle Busch

DARLINGTON, SC (Nov. 14) – On what was a tough day at Darlington Raceway, Kyle Busch and his No. 5 Team Lowe’s Racing crew again displayed the determination that has made them championship contenders throughout this NASCAR Busch Series (NBS) season.

After separate on-track incidents ended the team’s chances for a victory in Saturday’s NBS event and sent Busch behind the wall for repairs, his Hendrick Motorsports crew showed its resolve, diligently working to get the No. 5 Lowe’s / Shop Vac Chevrolet back on track and complete the 200-mile event.

Busch did return to the track with just over 10 laps remaining in the 147-lap contest, crossing the finish line in 33rd position, 37 laps down to race winner Jamie McMurray.

The disappointing result allowed Martin Truex, Jr., to clinch the 2004 NBS Championship, while Busch locked up the second points position, becoming the first Raybestos Rookie in history to finish higher than third in the NBS drivers’ points standings.

Busch also added to his list of rookie accomplishments on Saturday, breaking Greg Biffle’s record for leading 19 races in his Raybestos Rookie season. Busch led 12 laps in Saturday’s race, marking the 20th event he has led this year.

After rain forced the cancellation of qualifying on Friday, the starting grid was set by points, which meant that Busch rolled off from the outside of the front row in Saturday’s event. Busch dropped back to fourth in the early going, but passed Truex, the polesitter, to take over the third position around lap nine.

Busch was running behind the second-place car of Ron Hornaday and was poised to take over the second position when he and Hornaday made contact, causing Hornaday’s No. 2 entry to wiggle. Busch backed off to let Hornaday regain control when Hornaday’s car appeared to slow suddenly. With nowhere to go, Busch plowed into the back of the No. 2 and Greg Biffle, running fourth at the time, in turn hit Busch’s car.

“Basically, all that happened was that I was trying to pass Hornaday,” Busch said of the incident. “It was probably a bad idea on my part. I wasn't far enough along side of him, but he could have just gave me room and let me go. It's that early in the race and I thought he would have done that."

"(The accident) stopped us so quick that Biffle got into the back of us and broke the bumper bar out and a few things like that,” crew chief Lance McGrew said of the damage. “It might have got the (front end alignment) or something like that, but mainly it was grill damage, and we had to come in and get some tires on it because (Busch) slid the tires and pull some tape off (the car’s nose) because it was going to overheat."

After two trips to pit road for repairs, Busch returned to the race in 35th position for the lap 33 restart. With new tires, Busch was able to work his way back up to 27th before NASCAR displayed the yellow flag on lap 50 for a “competition caution.”

While the frontrunners came in for tires and fuel, Busch and McGrew decided to stay out and gain track position. The duo reasoned that another caution flag was likely to come out shortly, which would allow Busch to come in for new tires and put the No. 5 team on the same pit stop cycle as the leaders.

Busch assumed the lead during the caution period and held it for the next 12 laps, until Ashton Lewis, Jr., took over the top spot following the lap 63 restart.

What followed was exactly what the No. 5 did not want to see – namely, a long period of green flag racing.

With the majority of the field on fresher tires, Busch quickly dropped back through the pack, falling as far back as 25th position by lap 82. Five laps later, Busch went one lap down to the race leaders.

"There had been so many cautions that you take it for granted there's going to be some more,” McGrew said of the decision not to pit. “It just wasn't the case. We stayed out and were hoping for like a 10 or 15-lap run, 20-lap run, something to make some people think about coming in and putting some tires on and we could come back in sequence.

“When you get behind the eight-ball like that on a track like this, especially in the Busch Series where you're limited on the amount of tires you can put on the racecar, it's a gamble. It just didn't pay off for us.”

As the worn tires caused his car’s handling to deteriorate, Busch did all he could to keep control of his entry. On lap 100, the loose condition finally caused Busch to spin the Team Lowe’s Racing entry coming out of turn four.

"It was just so terrible loose,” Busch said. “I was just trying to hang on and hang on. There was not much more I could do. There were a few times that I probably should have spun it in turn 3 but the wall caught me.”

With heavy damage to the rear of his car, Busch drove the No. 5 Lowe’s / Shop Vac Chevrolet behind the pit road wall. There, his Hendrick Motorsports crew thrashed to get their entry back on track before the checkered flag was displayed. Busch returned to the race with just over 10 laps remaining.

"(Finishing the event) didn't mean a whole lot except for the stat sheet,” crew chief Lance McGrew said of the hard work his team put in to return the No. 5 Lowe’s / Shop Vac Chevrolet to the event. “We don't like DNF’s (Did Not Finish). We were a bunch of laps down, but the effort was there to get the car back and (Kyle) just kind of stayed out of the way for those (last) 15 or 20 laps."

The No. 5 team now heads to Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida, intent on claiming another win for Hendrick Motorsports in what will be the final event of the NBS season.

A successful run at the 1.5-mile facility will also help Busch break several more Raybestos Rookie records, including number of wins by a rookie in a season (Biffle, the 2001 Rookie of the Year, and Busch are tied with five apiece), and number of top-10 finishes by a rookie in a season (Busch and Biffle both have 21).

The 300-mile NBS event will air live from Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sat., Nov. 20, at 1 p.m. EST on NBC and MRN Radio affiliates.