Busch finishes in 29th place, gains seasoning

Monday, Nov. 6, 2000 | 10:37 a.m.

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Kurt Busch had mixed emotions about his 29th-place finish in Sunday's Checker Auto Parts/Dura Lube 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.

On one hand, the 22-year-old Las Vegas native stayed out of trouble and finished the race -- one lap off the pace -- with his No. 97 John Deere Ford Taurus intact.

On the other hand, he battled an ill-handling car from the outset and never was able to improve upon his 26th-place starting position in his fifth NASCAR Winston Cup start.

"This is a tough track to get a handle on," Busch said of the flat 1-mile oval. "I have been here two times -- it's a good thing we had track experience.

"We just couldn't quite get the handle on (the car's setup); I think we're missing a lot on our shock package and every time we came into pit, we'd lose about five spots (and) it's tough to gain those back."

On the positive side, Busch avoided making contact with any other cars -- something that he had trouble doing in some of his earlier starts, which raised the ire of some of his fellow drivers.

"I did a lot of racing side-by-side with other drivers and I'm getting back in tune with gaining back their respect," Busch said. "I just did a lot of good, hard-core racing (and) giving it up when the faster cars came by.

"It was a good day as far as gaining experience with the other drivers."

Nonetheless, he added, it was a disappointing result.

"It's a below-average finish for us but we're missing a lot on the program," Busch said. "We're developing a pit-crew team, we're developing the shock program, we're developing everybody at once here."

Busch will make his final two Winston Cup starts at Homestead-Miami Speedway next Sunday and Atlanta Motor Speedway on Nov. 19 -- two tracks on which he tested last month.

"Those are two different types of race tracks, but they're both mile and a half, and it's just more chances to gain experience," he said. "Plus, Atlanta is a superspeedway and the car has been good on superspeedways."

Sospenzo was unable to make the Checker Auto Parts/Dura Lube 500 after attending his grandmother's funeral Saturday in New York. Sospenzo was scheduled to fly to Phoenix Saturday afternoon but on the way home from the funeral, his uncle was struck by a car and killed and Sospenzo remained in New York with his family.

Steve Lane, Mayfield's car chief, took over as crew chief on Sunday.

Labonte needed to leave Phoenix with a lead of 320 points or more to have the championship wrapped up. As it stands, Labonte can clinch the title Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway if he: finishes fifth or better in the race; finishes sixth or better and leads one lap; finishes seventh or better and leads the most laps.

By winning Sunday, Jeff Burton remained in third place but pulled to within 226 points of Labonte.

The one-hour program is scheduled to begin airing on MTV in the week prior to the 2001 Daytona 500 in February.

Little E made his first appearance in the magazine as one of NASCAR's "sexiest drivers."