Notebook: Last-lap contact fans flames of Kurt Busch-Jimmie Johnson feud

Notebook: Last-lap contact fans flames of Kurt Busch-Jimmie Johnson feud

 

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

 

(August 7, 2011)

 

LONG POND, Pa.—Kurt Busch and Jimmie Johnson finished third and fourth, respectively, in Sunday’s Good Sam RV 500 at Pocono Raceway, and they weren’t happy—with each other.

 

Hard racing and considerable contact between Busch’s No. 22 Dodge and Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet led to an animated confrontation between the drivers on pit road after the race.

 

On the final lap, Johnson nosed ahead of Busch in Turn 2, and Busch regained the third position at the exit from the corner. The way Busch made the pass irked Johnson.

 

“Man, I worked him over for 10 or 15 laps and had the opportunity to screw him up and had the opportunity to run into him and never did it,” Johnson said. “Then, off of (Turn) 2, he claims I turned down on him—and I don’t have clue. He ran over me on the corner exit, and that’s where it all started.

 

“I just don’t understand why, when I finally get position on him, he’s got to run all over the side of me down the straightaway. It was a great race. The thing is here, track position is everything. And every driver is at ten-tenths, trying to get what they can, when they can, because you can’t pass.

 

“And it took me that entire fuel run to set up that pass on him, and I finally got it done and then that problem happens. So that’s where my frustration comes in.”

 

Busch said the contact was simply a product of hard racing.

 

“I was racing Jimmie hard there at the end,” Busch said. “I was racing—flat out. You want to race, let’s race. I didn’t know we were supposed to pull over when it came down to five to go. I raced him hard. I raced him smart. I raced him clean, and he wants to come over here and bitch about it.

 

“Hey, he came off the turn and did a jab to my left; I did a jab back to the right. Why can’t we race each other like this and put on show for the fans and not have a problem with it? I don’t know.

 

“There are a lot of times when the 22 is on the short end of the stick (with) the 48, and I raced him hard today. I’m glad I did. I have no regrets in it.”

 

 

 

Despite top 10, Menard falls out of Chase-eligible position

 

Paul Menard backed up his victory in last week’s Brickyard 400 with a strong 10th-place run Sunday, but that wasn’t enough to keep him in a Chase-eligible position.

 

The quirks of NASCAR’s new wild-card system, which rewards the two drivers in positions 11-20 with the most victories, elevated race winner Brad Keselowski (18th in the standings with two victories) over Menard (14th place with one victory) for a provisional Chase spot.

 

It didn’t help Menard’s cause that Denny Hamlin (11th with one victory) had trouble late in the race and finished 15th, failing to crack the top 10 in the standings.

 

Though circumstances conspired against Menard, he was pleased with his result.

 

“It was a good follow-up to last week’s win,” he said. “We fought hard for this top-10 finish. The No. 27 pit crew gained us some spots on that stop coming off the red flag (after a rain delay) that really helped out a bunch.

 

“The race for the final Chase spots is shaping up to be really competitive, and we're fighting hard to put ourselves in position to take one of those spots.”

 

 

 

Solid top-10 gives Earnhardt breathing room

 

Dale Earnhardt Jr. got exactly what he needed in Sunday—a ninth-place finish that gave him a reasonable margin for error heading into next Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at Watkins Glen.

 

It was hardly a perfect performance. Glitches on pit road probably cost Earnhardt three or four spots at the finish. Nevertheless, Earnhardt solidified his 10th-place position in the Cup standings and goes to the Glen with a 23-point advantage over Hamlin.

 

“We had a real good car, and we had some real good speed in the car,” Earnhardt said. “We had some struggles on pit road, and I know the guys on the team will get that sorted out—and sometimes we just have mistakes.

 

“Sometimes the driver makes them, sometimes—there’s so many guys on the team it’s rare when everyone is kind of clicking. We’ll get it sorted out. We had good speed, though, we had a good car all day long, and (I’m) real happy how that worked out.”

 

That kind of finish, Earnhardt’s first top 10 since June 12—the last time the series came to Pocono—gives him breathing room at the road course at the Glen, not one of his strongest tracks.

 

“Well, we’re just going to try and go up there and steal a good finish—like everyone else, you know,” Earnhardt said. “You’ve got to do different strategy at the road-course races and pit once you get inside the (fuel) window and it’s all kind of craziness. It’s not really much fun, but that’s the way it is.”