Busch, Team Lowe’s Racing Finish Fifth at Texas

Kyle Busch

Ft. Worth, TX (Nov. 6) – It was a tale of two races for the Lowe’s cars in the NASCAR Busch Series race at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday.

Kyle Busch ended his 2005 Busch Series campaign on a high note Saturday, coming from the rear of the field to finish fifth while Adrian Fernandez crashed on lap 15 and finished 43rd.

The finish didn’t come easy for Busch and the crew of his No. 57 Lowe’s / Kobalt Tool Chests Chevrolet. His Hendrick Motorsports crew made multiple chassis adjustments during the 200-lap event to improve their car’s handling and help Busch score his second top-five Busch Series finish of the year.

“I have to thank the guys on my team for this one,” Busch said. “We only got about 25 or 30 laps of practice before we blew an engine, and the guys worked their tails off to get us ready to qualify and race. They stayed after it during the race and we kept working on it and got it pretty good there at the end.

“It’s cool to come out of here with a top-five finish. This was my last Busch race of the year, and we’ve had a real up and down season with the Busch program, so it feels good to finish strong.”

Adrian Fernandez

Fernandez qualified 30th and after a good start fell back through the field with accelerator problems. Fernandez began to work his way back up through the field but spun while making a pass in turn three.

“I don’t know if the other car cut down or the back end of my car just jumped around but whatever it was it ended out day,” said Fernandez who was making only his third oval start in NASCAR.

“We are disappointed of course. But we knew this was going to be a tough deal. We tested well at Phoenix so we think we will be much better next week.”

Busch qualified seventh, but the engine change meant that he started at the rear of the field, in 42nd position.

A fuel-only pit stop during the first caution period for adjustments to fix a tight handling condition allowed Busch to move up to seventh position, but a long green flag run gave cars on newer tires a chance to drop Busch back to 18th position by lap 82.

The tight handling condition persisted, so Busch pitted under the green flag on lap 82 for fuel, tires and more chassis adjustments. Another caution period on lap 106 allowed Busch to again come down pit road for new tires and adjustments. Fast work by Busch’s pit crew gained him three spots in the pits, with Busch returning to the track in 11th position.

A final pit stop on lap 168 allowed the pit crew to bolt on new tires and tweak the car’s handling one last time, sending Busch back out in sixth position for the lap 174 restart.

A pass on Matt Kenseth moved Busch into fifth position, where he remained as the checkered flag was displayed. Kevin Harvick won the race.