LV’s Busch places 13th

Monday, Oct. 9, 2000 | 11:22 a.m.

Native Las Vegan Kurt Busch turned in his best outing in three NASCAR Winston Cup Series starts as he drove the No. 97 Roush Racing Ford Taurus to a 13th-place finish Sunday in the UAW-GM 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway near Charlotte, N.C.

Busch, 22, started the race from the 42nd position after failing to qualify for the 43-car field on speed.

Busch managed to stay on the lead lap the entire race and in the final 42 laps he passed five cars to post his career-best finish in stock-car racing's premier series. In his three Winston Cup starts, Busch has finished 18th, 37th and 13th.

"I can't say enough about the John Deere crew; they did a great job of helping to get this car dialed in to the track today," Busch said.

"We had our struggles early in the week but that was simply due to a lack of experience. Once we started logging some laps and getting feedback off of this car we were a lot better. We just need to carry this momentum into the final races."

Busch, who was involved in a pair of on-track incidents a week ago in Martinsville, Va., had only one minor incident Sunday. Early in the race, Mike Skinner's car appeared to get loose and Busch tapped him from behind, triggering a two-car accident between Jerry Nadeau and Robert Pressley.

"We tried to race everyone clean out there today and apart from some incidental contact with the No. 31 car (Skinner), I think we accomplished that today," Busch said. "There was a lot of give and take on the track, especially when we were racing lapped cars, and that's a sign of professionalism.

"We are out here gaining experience this year and when we get a finish like we did today, that's just icing on the cake. We still have four races to go, but we will have tested at each venue before we go there and race so I think it should help us unload quicker and we should hopefully see some better qualifying efforts."

Busch will not compete in next Sunday's race at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, but will be in the No. 97 John Deere Ford for the final four races of the season.