THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
MONDAY, APRIL 28, 2008
SPORTS
》NASCAR
7B
Driver coasts through wreck to first Talledega victory
BY JENNA FRYER ASSOCIATED PRESS
TALLADEGA, Ala. — This time, the crash happened behind Kyle Busch. Instead of leaving Talladega Superspeedway with a smashed-up car, he drove into Victory Lane.
The kid who couldn't conquer Talladega finally won at the harrowing track Sunday, and in this breakout season for Busch, it was
only hitting that he coasted to the victory.
Busch came back from a lap down for his first win at Talladega, which was won under caution when a 13-car accident brought out the
yellow flag on the final lap. It froze the field and allowed Busch to slowly make his way across the finish line — a rare completion considering his past history at this track.
In six previous Cup races, Busch failed to finish four times and wrecked out of both events last season. His accident in last spring's Cup race was so hard, he cracked his head-and-neck restraint while finishing 37th. And his wreck in the fall officially ended his championship hopes.
"I don't think I've finished one here without wrecking, or at least without a torn up car. Today means a whole lot."
"I don't think I've finished one here without wrecking, or at least without a torn up car," Busch said. "Today means a whole lot."
But this year, he can't seem to do anything wrong. His victory was his second Sprint Cup win of the year, and seventh spanning all three of NASCAR's top series.
"it's great for Kyle. He's red hot," car owner Joe Gibbs said.
"I didn't want to finish second," Montoya said. "It's hard. I would think I would have tried to make a move coming out of four."
Denny Hamlin, Busch's teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing,finished third.
"The whole race was crazy,
Hamlin said. "Everyone got antsy."
Juan Pablo Montoya finished second to match his career best on an oval since moving to NASCAR midway through 2006. He also was second at Indy last July.
That showed in the waning laps, which were marked by three separate accidents. The first came with 14 laps to go when Tony Stewart,
KYLE BUSCH
NASCAR Driver
the third Joe Gibbs Racing driver, was stuck in the middle of a huge pack of cars. Bobby Labonte got forced to the bottom of the track by another car, and it set in motion a six-car accident that ended Stewart's day.
Despite leading a race-high 61 laps, he dropped to 0-for-20 in Talladega Cup races.
"That's what happens late in these races," Stewart said as he surveyed his damaged car. "If it was my fault, I'm sorry. But by looking at the video, I don't think I did anything wrong."
Labonte wrecked again shortly after the restart for another caution, setting up a final re-start with five laps to go and Michael Waltrip leading.
But Jimmie Johnson moved Waltrip out of the way, briefly giving Johnson the lead before he lost his momentum and a Busch-led train raced past him on the outside. Busch had Jeff Gordon on his bumper, and the ending was shaping up for another last-lap duel: Four of the past six Talladega races ended with a last-lap pass.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Montoya, with a huge push from temporary teammate David Stremme — he was filling in for Dario Franchitti, who broke his ankle in Saturday's Nationwide
Series race — moved past Gordon and onto Busch's bumper with Hamin behind him.
Knowing Hamilin was likely to work with Busch if he couldn't win the race himself, Montoya bided his time as he considered how to make a run on Busch. But it never came into play, as Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jamie McMurray made contact, McMurray hit the wall and a ton of other cars piled up around them.
Kyle Krisioff (41), David Reutimann (99), Kelly Bires (47), Steve Wallace (66), Stephen Leicht (21) and Kenny Wallace (28) crash during turn one of the NASCAR Aaron's 312 Nationwide Series auto race Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladoga, Ala.
Montoya and Hamlin didn't freet over what could have been.
Asked what he could have done. Montoya said to ask Hamlin.
"Ask Denny, he was the guy behind me," he said.
"Yeah, I was going to dictate the winner," Hamlin joked.
"He's right," Montoya replied.
But in all seriousness, Hamlin said he was going to be a player.
In his mind, he planned to push Montoya alongside Busch then go three-wide in a race to the finish line. Joe Gilbs Racing, they would
have frowned upon me pushing somebody else past Kyle," Hamlin said. "But I was going to go for it myself."
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