Busch Finds Both Success and Disappointment at Dover

Kyle Busch

DOVER, DE – For a rookie driver making just his third start at the notoriously difficult Dover International Speedway, a top-10 finish is almost always cause for celebration.

That is, except when that driver’s team is locked in a battle for the NASCAR Busch Series championship against the team that ends up winning the race. What would otherwise be seen as a very successful day is tempered with a little disappointment.

Such was the case for Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 5 Team Lowe’s Racing Chevrolet, in Saturday’s 200-mile Busch Series race at Dover International Speedway.

While Busch’s ninth-place finish marked the 18th top-10 finish of 2004 and the sixth top-10 in as many races for he and his Hendrick Motorsports team, Busch saw the margin grow between him and points leader Martin Truex, Jr., as Truex claimed the win in Saturday’s event.

Busch now trails Truex by 152 points in the Busch Series drivers’ points standings with seven races remaining.

"It was a frustrating day,” Busch said. “We had a decent enough car where I thought we could have finished anywhere from maybe eighth to fifth. We struggled a little bit and Lance (McGrew, crew chief) made some great changes. The guys worked hard all day long and had some awesome pit stops.

“We just got really tight there at the end. We were still fast enough where we thought we could get at least a top-five but we just couldn't catch and pass anybody.”

Starting the race from the fourth position, Busch made just 15 green flag laps before he radioed his crew and told them his No. 5 Lowe’s / Shop Vac Chevrolet was “bouncy” and had a little bit of a tight handling condition. The handling issue caused Busch to drop back as far as 10th position before the first caution flag of the event came out on lap 75.

"The tires just built up a lot of air pressure, and here at a concrete track for some reason the tires just bounce like crazy on concrete tracks,” Busch told a reporter after the race.

When Busch came to pit road during the caution period, his crew made a chassis adjustment and dropped the air pressure in the tires to help the handling condition, sending Busch back out in ninth position for the lap 79 restart.

Busch remained in the top-10 until lap 106, when he came to pit road for fuel, tires and more chassis adjustments during the fourth caution period of the event.

Returning to the race in the 15th position, Busch worked his way back towards the top-10 during the long green flag run that followed the lap 110 restart. When race leader Kenny Wallace ran out of fuel with around 10 laps remaining in the 200-lap event, Busch moved back into the top-10. Another frontrunner, Greg Biffle, also ducked on to pit road for fuel in the closing laps, moving Busch up to ninth before the checkered flag was displayed.

While Busch was frustrated about losing ground in the points battle, he assured reporters that he and his team are not ready to concede defeat.

"These guys will never give up and neither will I,” Busch said. “We'll just kind of keep digging at (Truex) and see what we can do. We're coming up to some racetracks that we feel like we can excel on such as Kansas (Speedway) and Lowe's (Motor Speedway) and Atlanta (Motor Speedway) and Homestead (Speedway). We'll see what we can do there."

For the sixth race in a row and the 21st time in 27 races the season, Busch was the top-finishing rookie. The top-10 finish also allowed Busch to expand his lead over Paul Menard (321-179) in the running for Raybestos Rookie of the Year.

For the second time in the past four weeks, Busch and his No. 5 Team Lowe’s Racing crew now have a weekend off before the Busch Series returns to action. The 300-mile Busch Series event will air live from Kansas Speedway (Kansas City, Kan.) on Sat., Oct. 9, at 2 p.m. EDT on TNT and MRN Radio affiliates.