Busch calls Spencer “decrepit” after crash

Monday, Aug. 5, 2002 | 10:10 a.m.

INDIANAPOLIS -- This wasn't how Kurt Busch planned to celebrate his 24th birthday.

Clutching a handful of birthday cards, the Las Vegas native watched helplessly as his crew loaded his mangled racecar onto the team's hauler after he completed only 34 laps in Sunday's Brickyard 400.

Busch, who bumped Jimmy Spencer's car out the lead en route to his first career NASCAR Winston Cup win at Bristol Motor Speedway in March, had just completed a pass on Spencer going into Turn 3 when Spencer tapped Busch's left-rear bumper and sent him spinning into the outside wall.

"I shouldn't have cleared him getting into turn three," a furious Busch said after the incident. "Obviously, we were coming up through the pack and he's going backwards -- that's what old, decrepit has-beens do, like Jimmy Spencer is -- and it's unfortunate that we cleared him getting into turn three, which made us vulnerable, and he dumped us."

After the incident in Bristol, Spencer all but warned Busch that there would be a payback when he proclaimed "Jimmy Spencer never forgets."

"I bumped him at 100 miles an hour (at Bristol) and he bumped us at 200 and I don't think that's very fair," Busch said. "It's pretty bad when he goes and calls out that he's going to smash back and then does it at a 200-mile-an-hour racetrack when there's a lot of points and a lot of money at stake.

"If that's the option that he wanted to take then so be it. We're racecar drivers out here -- all except for the 41 car and I feel real bad for (Spencer's car owner) Chip Ganassi. (Spencer's) so hard-headed -- unlike the soft wall that I hit -- and there's nothing you can really say or do about his type of thinking."

Busch was summoned to the NASCAR hauler after the race -- perhaps in an attempt by series officials to ward off future retaliation by Busch, who said that is not his style.

Still, Busch was having trouble concealing his displeasure with Spencer. As the safety crew attended to his battered car, Busch walked out on the track and motioned to his backside as Spencer drove by.

After spinning out during his qualifying run on Saturday, Busch started 38th and had moved up to 17th place in only 30 laps. He had just passed Spencer for 16th place at the end of the backstretch on lap 35 when Spencer spun him out and ended his day.

"It was a brand new racecar built for Indianapolis Motor Speedway," Busch said of his No. 97 Rubbermaid Ford. "I made a mistake in qualifying that put us back there in that position.

"We were working our way out of the hole and it's unfortunate that we have to race with people like (Spencer)."

Busch, who was fifth in Winston Cup points going into Sunday, slipped to 10th after his 41st-place finish.

"We moved ourselves up to fifth in points and we'll drop to tenth after this," Busch said. "That's something (Spencer) doesn't know the first thing about -- points racing -- because he's never been in a points chase."

Spencer took 31st place, one lap off the pace and is 24th in points.

"I don't know if something broke on his car or what," Spencer said of his run-in with Busch. "He just slowed down immediately and I bumped him. I sure didn't mean to, you know.

"I think Kurt has a lot to learn and some of that is to control his mouth."

"If I did hit the barrier -- I wasn't sure if I hit the barrier or the concrete wall -- I guess I'm glad I hit that because it hit a ton just then, so I'm glad it was there," said Wallace, who was not injured.

Busch also hit the SAFER Barrier when he spun and backed his car into the wall in turn three. Although the car sustained heavy damage to the left rear, Busch was not injured.

"It seems that it did its job if I'm able to walk away from a 200-mile-an-hour hit," he said,

Elliott is 14th on NASCAR's all-time win list with 43 victories.

Mark Martin, who finished 28th, slipped from second to third and Jeff Gordon remained fourth following his sixth-place finish.

Elliott and runner-up Rusty Wallace improved three spots in the points standings; Elliott went from ninth to sixth and Wallace from eighth to fifth.

Busch took the biggest hit among the top 10 in points by slipping five spots to 10th place.