Stewart holds off Earnhardt; Busch ends up in 14th place

Monday, Feb. 11, 2002 | 9:39 a.m.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Kurt Busch was thrilled with his first appearance in the Budweiser Shootout -- at least for the first two and a half minutes.

Busch, who drew the pole position for the 70-lap, made-for-TV race, led the first three laps Sunday at Daytona International Speedway before being shuffled out of the draft and then falling victim to an ill-handling car.

Busch, a 23-year-old Las Vegas native, finished 14th out of 22 cars in the event for 2001 pole winners and previous Bud Shootout winners. Tony Stewart led the last 24 laps and held off Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon to win his second straight Shootout.

"It was exciting," Busch said. "The adrenaline was pumping through you and you wanted to block as hard as you could but you know you can only get away with it three or four times and then they're going to fling you (aside)."

Busch managed to stay in the top five for the first 21 laps but couldn't get the drafting help he needed to stay there and then lost the handling on his Roush Racing Ford.

"I tried to toe the outside lane, I tried to toe the inside lane and do what a leader is supposed to do and we were just overcome," Busch said. "It was tough to get help."

Busch, who was 43rd fastest (out of 53 cars) during Saturday's first-round qualifying for the Daytona 500, said his car's handling went away near the midway point of the race.

"We had a good-handling car for 25 or 30 laps then the Fords seem to have more rear downforce to create a push condition," said Busch, who earned $30,954 for his finish. "I saw a lot of GM cars that went the whole distance with the same lap time.

"I think our cars are perfect the way that they're handling (and) then the handling just goes away on us."

Ford drivers have complained that they are at a disadvantage because of the new aerodynamic rules NASCAR mandated over the winter; on Sunday, NASCAR president Mike Helton gave the Ford teams some of the help they have sought by reducing the rear spoiler height by one-quarter inch on the Ford Taurus.

Although the finish was not what Busch had hoped for, he said he gained some valuable experience that he can use in Sunday's Daytona 500.

"I learned I can't do anything on my own -- just as I expected," he said. "I made two big mistakes as far as who I chose to go with in line and they didn't pan out correctly.

"We had a run towards the end but it never panned out."

Stewart got a run on Earnhardt coming out of Turn 4 on lap 47 and took the lead from Junior, then spent the final 23 laps fending him off.

"I would have sworn that car behind me was black and had a '3' on it because Dale may have a 'Junior' behind his name but he drives like Dale Senior," Stewart said. "He's got as much skill and talent as his father had."

Earnhardt said he never had the opportunity in the closing laps to overtake Stewart, and spent the final lap trying to keep a charging Jeff Gordon from taking over second place.

"The entire time I was behind Tony, I never once had the opportunity to pass him," Earnhardt said. "I was kind of sticking with him, but there's a point in time when you make a decision to try to win the race for yourself.

"I never had that opportunity so I'm kind of disappointed that the guy up front had such an easy ride."

Stewart beat Earnhardt to the checkered flag by .172 seconds; Earnhardt nipped Gordon by one-thousandth of a second for second place.

Although Gordon pulled up alongside Earnhardt on the closing lap, Earnhardt said that did not hamper his chances of catching Stewart.

"I thought the race was over with about five laps to go," Earnhardt said. "With this aero package you can use a little bit of brake to slow your car down so it gets the guy behind you right up behind you and then the leader will lose all his steam so you can get a run on him and make the pass.

"But when I would let off, Tony would let off. I knew it was going to take a stroke of genius or some big luck to get by him."

Ken Schrader was fourth and Sterling Marlin took fifth. Dale Jarrett, Terry Labonte, Bobby Labonte, Kenny Wallace and Todd Bodine rounded out the top 10.