Busch finds success in Talladega

Monday, April 23, 2001 | 10:08 a.m.

Kurt Busch will be the first one to admit that he rarely is happy at the racetrack unless he is winning races.

But after a career-best third-place finish in Sunday's NASCAR Winston Cup Talladega 500 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, the 22-year-old Las Vegas native was ecstatic.

"I'm very happy with everything and the way the team has come together with Ben Leslie as the new crew chief and just all the testing that we've done," Busch said.

"To come here with a brand new race car and (having) never tested it before and (I) never even saw this place until Friday morning when I went to go do my first qualifying run ... it was just a wonderful weekend."

Busch, who scored his third top-10 finish this season in his first trip to the series' fastest track, was running second -- just inches off race leader Tony Stewart's rear bumper -- with two laps to go. On the final lap, eventual race winner Bobby Hamilton got a push to the front by Joe Nemechek and Busch slipped back to third.

Busch crossed the finish line in a four-wide pack that included Roush Racing teammate Mark Martin, Bobby Labonte and Nemechek. Busch just edged Martin for third place.

It took NASCAR officials about 30 minutes, using video and the computer scoring, to sort out the finishing order behind fifth place.

The 188-lap race, which was run without a single caution period, took only 2 hours and 43 minutes to complete.

"Really, it just felt like 188 laps just went faster than a quarter in Las Vegas," Busch said. "It just went quick."

Busch said he had a strategy to overtake Stewart on the final lap when Hamilton and Nemechek made their move on the outside groove.

"I had a plan brewed up and the 55 (Hamilton) and 33 (Nemechek) spoiled it coming on the outside," he said. "They beat the left side doors off getting there and that's what they've got to do. I had a plan, it just didn't unfold correctly."

Team owner Jack Roush, who raised some eyebrows when he brought Busch up to Winston Cup after only one season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, was impressed with Busch's cool demeanor in his first race at Talladega.

"(Kurt is) incredibly mature," Roush said. "(His crew chief) asked him how he was doing at about 100 laps, riding around there in all those cars, and he said he was riding around with the top down; he was just chillin' out."

Busch was the highest finishing rookie for the second time this season and it was his second top-five finish in his past three starts. Busch, who trails Kevin Harvick by only two points in the Rookie of the Year standings, finished fourth at Texas Motor Speedway on April 1.