Kurt Busch is proof that the Race to the Chase is still on

Kurt Busch is proof that the Race to the Chase is still on


By Jim Pedley
Special to the Sporting News NASCAR  Service

If any Sprint Cup driver out there who is still within naked-eye viewing distance of the Chase cutoff point is wondering how far and how fast somebody can plummet in one race, he can just walk over to the No. 2 Penske hauler this weekend.
There they will find Kurt Busch, a seemingly safe Chaser seven days ago who fell back to earth with a freakish splat last weekend at Michigan International Speedway.
And with this weekend’s race being the Irwin Tools Night Race at nasty old Bristol Motor Speedway, you can be sure a lot of drivers took note of Busch’s tumble.
MIS can be viewed as a bit of a safe haven in the Race for the Chase: It’s wide, flat and barely moves the needle on the wreck-o-meter. But because of a blown engine—a super rarity when it comes to Penske Dodges—Busch finished 40th.
Fourth in points heading into the race, he left in 10th place. His cushion to 13th place fell from a seemingly safe 261 points to a nervous 215. And had Mark Martin, 12th in points pre-MIS, not had a horrible day as well, Busch’s cushion may have been reduced to thin padding.
And now, with three races remaining until the start of the Chase, there’s the tight, high-banked, much-faster-than-it-looks .533-mile Bristol short track.
You can bet that few are viewing Saturday night’s race at Bristol as a safe haven.
As Ryan Newman, 14th in points, said this week, “Everyone will tell you Bristol has always been a game of survival. Everything happens so fast there. You don’t have time to think or blink.”
If there is one driver who might be able to think and blink Saturday night, it could be Busch.
In 19 career starts at Bristol, Busch has five wins, six top-five finishes and 11 top 10s. He has a 19.1 average start and a 13.2 average finish.
Though the last of his victories at Bristol came in March 2006, Busch has been solid at the bullring in the races since. He was seventh a year ago, and this spring, well, Busch could have won and says he should have won.
He started second and led 10 times for a race-best 278 laps. He was leading on the final restart but could only watch and steam as the No. 48 Chevrolet of Jimmie Johnson eased past to get the lead and the victory. Busch wound up third.
“Having cars as strong as ours was in the March race at Bristol is something you dream about,” Busch said. “Then, not being able to capitalize on it and make it to victory lane was a real bitter pill to swallow.”
And losing it to Johnson, with whom Busch has feuded in the past, turned the pill from bitter to rancid.
Busch said after the race he would rather lose to any of the other drivers in the field than Johnson.
“I know there was a lot of emotion coming through there on pit road right after the race when I said that,” Busch said this week. “But even though that was going on five months ago, I still feel the exact same way. The way things have played out since then, that feeling is probably stronger than ever. I’d rather lose to any other team out there than to the 48.”
Busch will be in the same car this weekend that he was in during the March race. And considering his Chase position and the fall he took at Michigan, you have to wonder if he would be happy to finish third to Johnson again Saturday night.