Busch holds off Waltrip for first win of season
Roush Racing now has four wins in eight Cup races in '05

By Mike Harris, The Associated Press
April 24, 2005
01:08 AM EDT (05:08 GMT)




AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) -- Kurt Busch knew he had the best car Saturday night, but he had to keep coming from behind to prove it.

"It's probably one of our best wins,' Busch said after holding off a determined Michael Waltrip in the NASCAR Nextel Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway. "You think you've got it put together but something happens and you get behind. It says a lot for the team that we were able to overcome all the things that happened to put us behind.'

Busch was able to forget all about being stiff and sore as he raced to his first victory of the season.

The defending NASCAR Nextel Cup champion led 219 of 312 laps on the mile oval, emphatically putting behind him a streak of bad luck that included crashes at four consecutive events, including an IROC race a week ago at Texas Motor Speedway.

Greg Biffle, the hottest driver on NASCAR's top circuit, was the only competitor able to challenge his Roush Racing teammate during the first half of the Subway Fresh 500, the first Cup race run under the lights at PIR. But Biffle, who won the Cup race last Sunday at Texas and took the checkered flag here Friday night in a Busch Series race, lost his shot at another win in the pits.

A caution period for debris on the track was extended by a brief power outage that took out the track's caution lights and forced NASCAR to stop the race for nearly 7 minutes. On the ensuing restart on Lap 146, Biffle got by Busch, but it took only two laps for the eventual winner to slip by on the inside and regain the top spot.

That was it for Biffle, who collided with the car driven by Mike Bliss on pit road during the next caution period and wound up with extensive damage to the front of his car, including a hole in his radiator. The team tried to repair the damage but eventually gave up as Biffle was credited with finishing 41st.

Busch slipped back into the pack for a while during a flurry of caution flags and pits stops, but charged from ninth on a restart on Lap 211 to regain the lead, passing Jeff Gordon for the top spot on lap 227.

Then Busch had to do it again.

This time, eight drivers remained on track when Busch and several other leaders pitted during a caution -- one of nine in the race -- on Lap 240. Busch restarted ninth and began slashing through heavy traffic, moving steadily forward until finally driving past Michael Waltrip to take the lead for good on Lap 269.

Waltrip tried hard to chase him down, nearly getting by on Lap 299 before wiggling hard and then scraping the wall. He bounced off the wall twice more as he struggled to keep up with Busch.

"We just had a great car,' said Waltrip, who got his third top-10 finish of the season. "I just ran out of brains there at the end and hit the wall a couple of times. I'd rather mess up trying, though. I did all I could do.'

Busch held on the rest of the way, using lapped traffic to his advantage. He beat Waltrip's Chevrolet to the finish line by 2.315 seconds -- about 10 car-lengths -- for his 12th career victory. Jeff Burton was third, followed by Waltrip's teammate, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Vickers, Bobby Labonte and Carl Edwards.

It was the fourth victory in eight races this season for Jack Roush's teams, with Biffle winning twice and Edwards getting his first Cup victory.

"Kurt Busch gave them a clinic tonight,' Roush said. "I was sure he was hurting his tires at the end, but he saved just enough.'

Busch jumped from fourth to second in the standings, trailing series leader Jimmie Johnson, who finished 15th, by 173 points. Biffle slipped to third, 208 behind.

The start of the race was delayed about 30 minutes by a late afternoon rain shower, but there were no more weather problems.

 

Subway Fresh 500 Race Results


Fin St Car Driver Make Sponsor Pts/Bonus Laps Status
1 2 #97 Kurt Busch Ford IRWIN Industrial Tools/Sharpie 190/10 312 Running
2 28 #15 Michael Waltrip Chevrolet NAPA Auto Parts 175/5 312 Running
3 20 #31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet Cingular Wireless 165/0 312 Running
4 15 #8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet Budweiser 160/0 312 Running
5 5 #25 Brian Vickers Chevrolet ditech.com/GMAC 160/5 312 Running
6 4 #18 Bobby Labonte Chevrolet Interstate Batteries 150/0 312 Running
7 11 #99 Carl Edwards Ford Scotts 146/0 312 Running
8 27 #5 Kyle Busch * Chevrolet Kellogg's 147/5 312 Running
9 26 #09 Johnny Sauter Dodge Miccosukee Gaming & Resorts 138/0 312 Running
10 13 #01 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet U.S. Army 134/0 312 Running
11 33 #38 Elliott Sadler Ford Dark Chocolate M&M's 130/0 312 Running
12 1 #24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet DuPont 132/5 312 Running
13 8 #19 Jeremy Mayfield Dodge Dodge Dealers/UAW 124/0 312 Running
14 7 #12 Ryan Newman Dodge ALLTEL 121/0 312 Running
15 12 #48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe's 118/0 312 Running
16 22 #6 Mark Martin Ford Viagra 115/0 312 Running
17 14 #9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Dodge Dealers/UAW 112/0 312 Running
18 16 #10 Scott Riggs Chevrolet CENTRIX Financial 114/5 312 Running
19 10 #29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet GM Goodwrench 106/0 311 Running
20 23 #0 Mike Bliss Chevrolet NetZero Best Buy 103/0 311 Running
21 37 #43 Jeff Green Dodge Cheerios/Betty Crocker 100/0 311 Running
22 25 #33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet Sylvania 97/0 311 Running
23 35 #88 Dale Jarrett Ford UPS/Milk Chocolate M&M's 94/0 311 Running
24 21 #07 Dave Blaney Chevrolet Jack Daniel's 91/0 311 Running
25 34 #42 Jamie McMurray Dodge Home123 Corp. 88/0 311 Running
26 31 #40 Sterling Marlin Dodge Coors Light 85/0 311 Running
27 42 #4 Mike Wallace Chevrolet Lucas Oil Products 82/0 310 Running
28 29 #37 Kevin Lepage Dodge R&J Racing 79/0 310 Running
29 18 #11 Jason Leffler Chevrolet FedEx Express 76/0 309 Running
30 40 #192 Stanton Barrett * Chevrolet Front Row Motorsports 73/0 309 Running
31 39 #45 Kyle Petty Dodge Georgia-Pacific/Brawny 70/0 306 Running
32 36 #22 Scott Wimmer Dodge Caterpillar 72/5 305 Running
33 6 #20 Tony Stewart Chevrolet The Home Depot 64/0 305 Running
34 38 #21 Ricky Rudd Ford U.S. Air Force/Motorcraft 61/0 293 Running
35 19 #32 Bobby Hamilton Jr. Chevrolet Tide 58/0 283 Running
36 9 #2 Rusty Wallace Dodge Miller Lite 55/0 272 Running
37 43 #7 Robby Gordon Chevrolet Harrah's 52/0 262 Running
38 30 #49 Ken Schrader Dodge Schwan's Home Service 54/5 255 Out of Race
39 32 #41 Casey Mears Dodge Target 46/0 243 Running
40 24 #77 Travis Kvapil * Dodge Kodak/Jasper Engines 43/0 237 Out of Race
41 3 #16 Greg Biffle Ford Subway/National Guard 45/5 172 Out of Race
42 17 #17 Matt Kenseth Ford DeWalt Power Tools 37/0 164 Out of Race
43 41 #200 Carl Long Chevrolet Buyer's Choice Auto Warranties 34/0 52 Out of Race


* Denotes Rookie

 

Season Standing as of 4/24/2005

Rank +/- Driver Points Behind Starts Poles Wins Top 5 Top 10
1 -- Jimmie Johnson 1260 Leader 8 0 1 5 7
2 +2 Kurt Busch 1087 -173 8 0 1 4 5
3 -1 Greg Biffle 1052 -208 8 0 2 3 5
4 +1 Jeff Gordon 1027 -233 8 1 2 3 3
5 +3 Elliott Sadler 1009 -251 8 1 0 1 4
6 +1 Mark Martin 997 -263 8 0 0 2 4
7 +2 Ryan Newman 994 -266 8 3 0 1 3
8 +5 Carl Edwards 979 -281 8 0 1 2 3
9 -3 Sterling Marlin 968 -292 8 0 0 1 3
10 -7 Rusty Wallace 960 -300 8 0 0 1 4
11 +1 Kevin Harvick 951 -309 8 0 1 2 3
12 +3 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 947 -313 8 0 0 3 4
13 -3 Dale Jarrett 947 -313 8 1 0 1 1
14 -3 Tony Stewart 913 -347 8 0 0 1 3
15 -1 Jamie McMurray 912 -348 8 0 0 2 2
16 -- Jeremy Mayfield 904 -356 8 0 0 0 0
17 +3 Jeff Burton 879 -381 8 0 0 1 1
18 +6 Michael Waltrip 866 -394 8 0 0 1 3

19 -1 Scott Riggs 847 -413 8 1 0 1 3
20 +3 Kasey Kahne 810 -450 8 0 0 2 2
21 +1 Dave Blaney 798 -462 8 0 0 0 1
22 -3 Kyle Petty 796 -464 8 0 0 0 1
23 +5 Brian Vickers 795 -465 8 0 0 1 2
24 +2 Joe Nemechek 793 -467 8 0 0 0 2
25 +2 Kyle Busch* 792 -468 8 1 0 1 2
26 -9 Casey Mears 791 -469 8 0 0 1 2
27 -2 Mike Bliss 767 -493 8 0 0 0 0
28 -7 Matt Kenseth 745 -515 8 0 0 0 1
29 +3 Jeff Green 687 -573 8 0 0 0 0
30 -1 Travis Kvapil* 668 -592 8 0 0 0 1
31 -1 Ricky Rudd 659 -601 8 0 0 0 2
32 -1 Ken Schrader 651 -609 8 0 0 0 0
33 -- Scott Wimmer 630 -630 8 0 0 0 0
34 +3 Bobby Labonte 615 -645 8 0 0 0 1
35 -1 Jason Leffler 599 -661 8 0 0 0 0
36 -1 Mike Wallace 597 -663 8 0 0 0 0
37 -1 Bobby Hamilton Jr. 533 -727 8 0 0 0 0
38 -- Kevin Lepage 439 -821 5 0 0 0 1
39 -- Robby Gordon 377 -883 6 0 0 0 0
40 -- Hermie Sadler 259 -1001 4 0 0 0 0
41 -- John Andretti 225 -1035 3 0 0 0 0
42 +5 Johnny Sauter 218 -1042 3 0 0 0 1
43 -1 Terry Labonte 212 -1048 3 0 0 0 0
44 -1 Bill Elliott 195 -1065 3 0 0 0 0
45 -1 Jimmy Spencer 176 -1084 2 0 0 0 0
46 -1 Boris Said 164 -1096 2 0 0 0 0
47 -1 Randy LaJoie 134 -1126 3 0 0 0 0
48 +7 Stanton Barrett* 113 -1147 2 0 0 0 0
49 -- Clint Bowyer 97 -1163 1 0 0 0 0
50 -2 Shane Hmiel 77 -1183 2 0 0 0 0
51 -2 Mike Garvey 74 -1186 2 0 0 0 0
52 -2 Mike Skinner 73 -1187 1 0 0 0 0
53 -2 Eric McClure* 67 -1193 1 0 0 0 0
54 -2 Martin Truex Jr. 61 -1199 1 0 0 0 0
55 -2 Morgan Shepherd 48 -1212 1 0 0 0 0
56 -2 Kenny Wallace 43 -1217 1 0 0 0 0
57 -1 Carl Long 34 -1226 2 0 0 0 0


* Denotes Rookie

 

Ah who cares, next to Gordon and Johnson I hate Kurt Busch lol

Hey MidnightBlueNeon check out where they placed...ut oh Jr.'s gettin it done!!!...finally lol

 

LOL He's still 5 spots down from Ryan!

 

Lol yeah I know . Actually he only need 2 more positions and hold it until the last 10 races