Friday, Aug. 1, 2003 | 9:38 a.m.
INDIANAPOLIS -- Going into last year's Brickyard 400, Las Vegas native Kurt Busch was fifth in NASCAR Winston Cup points and was being hailed as a legitimate contender for the series championship.
Then he got together with Jimmy Spencer, who bumped Busch from behind and spun him into the wall, ending his race after 34 laps.
As a result of his 41st-place finish at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Busch slipped to 10th in points and went into a three-race slump that may very well have cost him his first Winston Cup championship in only his second full season in the series.
Busch rebounded from his August slump and won three of the final five races of the season and finished third in the championship, 159 points behind Tony Stewart.
As the Winston Cup Series returns to Indianapolis for Sunday's Brickyard 400, Busch is hoping to use the race -- and the lessons he learned from last summer's slump -- to rejuvenate a season that included a similar three-race skid that dropped him from fifth to eighth in points.
"I hope that we've gone through our little spell of bad luck," Busch said of a stretch last month that included finishes of 28th, 36th and 39th following a victory at Michigan on June 15. "Each season it seems like our (bad luck comes) in bulk -- like we're going over to Sam's Club and shopping there.
"It's just a matter of having that right racing luck and being competitive and being able to dig out of it. We were able to do that last year and I know that we can do it again. Hopefully this time around, our bad month is already behind and we now can challenge August this year with Indianapolis, Watkins Glen and Michigan coming up. I see a lot of great racetracks coming up for us."
Although Busch acknowledges he is a long shot to contend for the championship this season -- he trails series leader Matt Kenseth by 559 points with 16 races remaining -- he said another strong finish to the season such as he had last year is what is motivating him in the second half of this season. That, he said, was one of the biggest lesson he learned from last year.
"Any driver, when a mistake is made or when there is something that challenges you that you don't necessarily like, there's a lesson to be learned from it," Busch said. "Of course, the way the year had gone, we had a great season up until the month of August. (The result at Indy) was a big blow, but there was no real doubt or questions or panic by any of the crew members or any of the team; we knew that we could compete and it was just a matter of going out there and actually doing it and blocking out all of the bad scenarios and pretending you're starting with a clean slate every race.
"That has helped me this year. It's always difficult to have bad days and within this business and those days are tough to swallow. You just have to be optimistic about the future and do what you can as far as surrounding yourself with good people and controlling the situations you can control. It's nothing that I'm really worried about; people have their great years and people have their bad years and a lot of teams would kill to have the year that we've had so far."
Busch has three victories this season (Bristol Motor Speedway, California Speedway and Michigan International Speedway) and another four runner-up finishes. He snapped his three-race skid last month with an 11th-place finish at New Hampshire International Speedway and finished second to Ryan Newman in last weekend's race at Pocono Raceway.
His spirits buoyed by his past two races, Busch said he is optimistic heading into this weekend's Brickyard 400. As a rookie, in 2001, Busch finished fifth in his first appearance at the historic 2.5-mile oval. Last year, Busch started the race 38th after spinning during qualifying, but had worked his way up to 16th place when he had his run-in with Spencer.
"I hope that we can be as competitive as we've been in the past," Busch said. "We've have two very fast cars in my two trips there and right now we're bringing our best car in the stable, which is the car that has won at Michigan and California."
And a victory at the Brickyard would mean as much to Busch, he said, as one at Daytona or his hometown race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
"With the prestige and the history of racing (at Indy), it's a place that sets you back in time when you make a lap around it," he said. "It's difficult to explain, it's just a lot of fun to go there and I think it's the second-biggest race of the year. The way that the crew guys prepare for the race, it's very similar to Daytona in some ways because you've got to bring your best car and be on your A-game."
Armed with the confidence he gained from last season's late surge, Busch said another top-five finish in the points is not out of the question.
"(Winning the championship) is still a shot but I'm a realist kind of guy and we're going to do the best we can to get ourselves back up into this points race but I believe Matt's got the greatest shot at taking the championship," Busch said. "If I can be a wingman for Kenseth, that's the first thing that we'll try to do to help him with this championship.
"But we're a team that's still within grasp of the top five -- I believe we're only (129) points out of fourth place. I believe we can climb our way back into the top five."
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