Busch unhappy with 10th place

Monday, Aug. 8, 2005 | 8:59 a.m.

INDIANAPOLIS -- A top-10 finish by a rookie in the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard is something to be proud of -- unless you feel you had a top-five car.

Kyle Busch, a Las Vegas native, posted a 10th-place finish Sunday in his first race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway but wasn't in a celebratory mood.

"It feels pretty bad because we didn't finish (anywhere) near where we should have," Busch said.

Busch, 20, qualified 16th but was running in the top five 40 laps into the 160-lap race. He ran as high as second before a pit-road mistake late in the race wreaked havoc with the handling on his No. 5 Kellogg's Chevrolet.

"The car was good up until the end," Busch said. "That last pit stop ... we got three tires on it instead of four and got really, really, really loose off the corners because that left rear wasn't there to give me the grip that I needed off the corner.

"After that, we were just trying to hang on and try to gain some spots. I was catching Mark (Martin) a little bit and then once I'd get to him, I'd get tight behind him. And then I knocked the left-front valance in and then got real tight again and knocked the wall down about every lap and got tight even more. I was just trying to survive and hang on the last few laps."

Older brother Kurt Busch battled an ill-handling car all race and limped home to an 18th-place finish in his fifth career Brickyard 400 start.

With 37 laps remaining, Busch got loose and slid into Scott Riggs, who hit the wall in Turn 2, bringing out the ninth of 10 cautions in the race.

"That's a product of this piece of (junk) car," Busch said over his radio after the incident. "Sorry, but I can't drive this thing like this."

Despite his struggles, Busch managed to hang onto fifth place in the Nextel Cup points standings with five races remaining in NASCAR's regular season.

JOHNSON SHAKEN UP: Jimmie Johnson was evaluated and released from Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis Sunday afternoon after suffering a hard hit when he cut a right-front tire and slammed into the Turn 4 wall late in the race.

Johnson told NBC television that it was "the hardest hit I've ever taken" and said he didn't remember driving his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy from Turn 4 to the pits following the accident.

"His bell has definitely been rung," Chad Knaus, Johnson's crew chief, said. "That was a pretty hard hit that he took out there. We cut a right-front tire as he was going into Turn 4 and knocked the wind out of him, so they're going to send him (to the hospital) and take a look at him."

Johnson, the series points leader going into the race, finished 38th and slipped to second in the standings. He trails race winner Tony Stewart by 75 points.

QUE SERA, SERA: Dale Earnhardt Jr. appeared to be resigned to the fact that his hopes of making the "Chase for the Nextel Cup" were over after a lap 63 accident knocked him out of the race and relegated him to a last-place finish Sunday.

"That's life. You've got to deal with it, good and bad," Earnhardt said. "We'll be all right. I mean, if we make the Chase, we make it; if we don't, we don't. We'll still try to win some races before the year is out."

Earnhardt came into the race ranked 14th in the Nextel Cup standings, 110 points out of 10th place, and left Indianapolis 16th in the standings and 191 points out of 10th. With five races remaining to determine the Chase participants, Earnhardt has not been mathematically eliminated.

BROWN, ROUSH ALLIANCE: Former NFL receiver and 1987 Heisman Trophy winner Tim Brown announced Sunday that his new NASCAR racing team would receive technological and operational support from Roush Racing.

Brown said he hoped to have the team up and running in time to start next season but has not yet hired a driver or crew chief or secured sponsorship. Brown said his intention is to race in the Nextel Cup Series but, "if we end up in the Truck Series or the Busch Series, that would be good, too."

Tim Brown Racing would be the only team in NASCAR with majority ownership by a black American.