Notebook: Kyle Busch gives it his best shot but comes up short

Notebook: Kyle Busch gives it his best shot but comes up short


By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
(March 27, 2011)

FONTANA, Calif.—After leading a race-high 151 laps, Kyle Busch finished a disappointing third in Sunday’s Auto Club 400 Sprint Cup race at Auto Club Speedway—but it wasn’t for a lack of trying.
Under the final caution of the race, Busch stayed out on old tires, as did race winner Kevin Harvick and runner-up Jimmie Johnson. Busch lost the lead to Johnson on Lap 198 of 200 and fell to third when Harvick surged past both drivers for the win.
“Just real, real unfortunate and frustrating and disappointing all in one that we weren’t able to seal the deal today,” Busch said. “Just came down to the last few laps there with Jimmie first, and then Kevin got into it, too, with us.
“You ask a little bit more from your racecar at the last moments, and it doesn’t have anything left to give. You’re essentially a sitting duck waiting for those guys to drive by you. Couldn’t get any more out of the car. That was it. It would push, get loose—that was all we had.”
The third-place finish ended Busch’s streak of NASCAR national series victories at three. As consolation, he gained two positions to fourth in the series standings, 11 points behind leader Carl Edwards, who finished sixth
Earnhardt enjoying newfound consistency
Dale Earnhardt Jr. may not be challenging for wins at this point, but the driver of the No. 88 Chevrolet has been the very model of consistency this season.
After a wreck that wasn’t his fault and a 24th-place finish in the Daytona 500, Earnhardt finished 10th, eighth and 11th before finishing 12th in Sunday’s Auto Club 400. He is in 12th place in the Cup standings.
Now Earnhardt has to work on qualifying. Since winning the pole at Daytona (and starting in the back because of a crash in practice), Earnhardt has an average starting position of 30th over the past four races. That’s exactly where he started Sunday at Fontana.
“I like the consistency,” Earnhardt said. “That’s something I’ve never really had. This is the most consistent I’ve ever been in my whole career, so that’s a good thing.
“I think the team’s pretty good. I’ve got to do a better job helping them put a car on the track for qualifying that’s going to get us in the top 15. You’re really not helping yourself starting races in 30th. We have really good racecars and don’t want to be doing that.”
Kurt Busch flounders, loses points lead
Driver Kurt Busch and crew chief Steve Addington struggled with the handling of the No. 22 Penske Dodge all weekend, but under the circumstances, Busch salvaged a respectable 17th-place finish from a race in which he spent most of the afternoon running in the 20s.
Busch fell from the top spot to third in the Cup standings, 10 points behind leader Carl Edwards.
“We unloaded slow and never found speed,” Busch said. “The short practice on Friday (because of rain) really hurt, and we couldn’t find the balance that we needed to be fast. We threw everything we could today at the track—bars, air pressures, spring rubbers, you name it.”
Busch’s average running position was 22.3, and he was 25th with 20 laps to go. His finish was his first outside the top 10 this season.
“The car never reacted to the track,” Busch said. “With a big 2-mile oval like Auto Club, carrying speed through these big sweeping corners is critical to be fast. We struggled getting over the bumps and getting our car to rotate through the corners like we needed. It’s disappointing, because we wanted to come here and extend our point lead and gain some momentum heading into Martinsville next weekend.
“We went in the wrong direction. It’s a long season ... a marathon, not a sprint. We’ll put this behind us and head to short-track racing next week.”