Busch Flirts with Victory at New Hampshire, but Must Settle for 25th Place Finish Instead
Despite Late-Race Misfortune, Busch and Interstate Batteries Team Maintain Points Lead
Date: June 29, 2008
Event: Lenox Industrial Tools 301 (Round 17 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Location: New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon (1.058-mile oval)
Start/Finish: 27th/25th (Running, completed 284 of 284 laps)
Winner: Kurt Busch of Penske Racing (Dodge)
Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), finished a disappointing 25th in Sunday’s rain-shortened Lenox Industrial Tools 301 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon.
After starting 27th, Busch spent the majority of the day running just inside the top-20, as a tight handling condition through the center of the track’s corner hindered his performance during the race.
“It wasn’t something that was going to get fixed on the race track,” said Busch of trying to get a handle on his race car. “We needed to go to the garage and work on it. We missed something all weekend and we pretty much knew it was going to be a dismal day, but we tried to make the most of it.”
While he had a less than stellar run going by his standards, Busch’s day, along with the whole race, for that matter, took a wild turn during the final 100 laps. With dark rain clouds looming in the distance, several strategies began to unfold. As the fourth caution of the day waved on lap 204, the lead-lap cars dove onto pit road knowing they could not make it to the end of the scheduled 301-lap distance on fuel. But just 14 laps later, the caution flag waved again and a handful of teams decided to gamble by using differing fuel strategies. While then-leader Tony Stewart and many of the frontrunners stayed out on track during the lap-217 caution, crew chief Steve Addington opted to bring Busch in for tires and fuel since he was confident the Interstate Batteries Toyota could make it to the end from that point.
The strategy appeared to be playing right into the hands of Addington and the No. 18 Interstate Batteries team, as the race went a lengthy stretch without a caution and Busch found himself running ahead of all the others that opted to pit with him on lap 218. But just as it appeared their strategy was going to play out in the team’s favor, the caution appeared again on lap 273 when Jamie McMurray made hard contact with Dale Earnhardt Jr., in turn four. With rain clouds looming closer, Addington’s first instinct was to stay on track to maintain track position, but Busch felt his tires didn’t have the grip to hold off the cars behind him, so he brought the No. 18 Toyota to pit road for two tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment.
“If we would have stayed out there then, we could have won the race,” said Busch, who finished outside the top-10 for only the fifth time this season. “I didn’t feel like that was the way to win a race, just to stay out and play by the rain. I didn’t feel like we had a shot with the guys that were going to be behind us. We did what we did to try to pass some more cars.”
Busch restarted in the 20th position as the race went back to green on lap 278, but just two laps later, Clint Bowyer and Sam Hornish Jr., got together on the track to bring out another yellow, which turned out to be the final one of the day. But as the field slowed down for the caution with Busch still sitting in 20th, Juan Pablo Montoya in the No. 42 car purposely turned into the right-rear quarterpanel of Busch’s machine. The contact sent Busch spinning into Montoya, who attempted to drive by Busch on the inside, and it caused significant damage to nose of the Interstate Batteries car. Busch was then forced to bring the car to pit road for repairs in the event the race went back green. But as the field was following the pace car, rain began to fall and quickly deluged the track. The race was red-flagged on lap 284, then called some 10 minutes later. Montoya was called to the NASCAR hauler after the race as a result of the incident.
“I have no idea,” Busch said when asked why Montoya spun him around under caution. “I got a run on him earlier and I got on the outside and he kind of kept coming up a little bit. I didn’t turn down into him, but just barely touched his quarterpanel. Then I got by him in (turns) three and four and he ran me up the race track in the left rear. Then we came to that caution flag and he thought he beat me to the caution flag. I was just trying to get around the 40 car, who was in front of us there, and touched him on the door. And he just turned left and spun me down the front straightaway. I don’t know what his beef is, but obviously NASCAR will fix it.”
While the finish was not what he had hoped for, Busch held onto the lead in the Sprint Cup point standings, now 64 points ahead of second-place Jeff Burton.
Busch’s JGR teammates – Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart – finished eighth and 13th, respectively, in the Lenox Industrial Tools 301.
Hamlin gained one position to rise to seventh in the standings, while Stewart gained two spots to move up to the ninth.
Kurt Busch, Kyle’s older brother, won the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 to score his 18th career Sprint Cup victory, his first of the season and his third at New Hampshire. Michael Waltrip finished second, while J.J. Yeley, Martin Truex Jr., and Elliott Sadler rounded out the top-five. Reed Sorenson, Casey Mears, Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, and Bobby Labonte comprised the remainder of the top-10.
There were seven caution periods for 33 laps – including the final four laps – with four drivers failing to finish the event.
The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the July 5 Coke Zero 400 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. The race begins at 8 p.m. EDT with live, high-definition coverage provided by TNT beginning with its pre-race show at 6:30 p.m. The race will also be broadcast live on SIRIUS Satellite Radio Channel 128.
