Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Qualifying race a learning experience for Busch

Friday, Feb. 18, 2005 | 10:23 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

Having raced three times before on the high banks of Daytona International Speedway, Kyle Busch wasn't expecting Thursday's 150-mile qualifying race for the Daytona 500 to be a huge educational experience.

True, it was Busch's first race here in a NASCAR Nextel Cup car, but he already had won an ARCA race here and put together two solid runs in the NASCAR Busch Series events at Daytona last year.

What Busch learned from his ninth-place finish in the first of two qualifying races was the same thing every Nextel Cup rookie discovers when mixing it up for the first time with the big boys: Friends, especially drafting partners, are hard to find.

"I knew I would (have trouble getting drafting help)," Busch, 19, said.

About the only help Busch received Thursday came from his older brother Kurt, who pushed Busch to the front of the pack with 10 laps to go before Kyle fell out of the draft. Kurt went on to finish sixth.

"I had an issue not knowing how many laps to go there coming down to the finish," the younger Busch said. "Kurt was stuck up on the outside by himself and then Jeff (Gordon) had a head of steam coming, and I think that was with two to go, and Jeff pulled out from behind me to go on the outside with Kurt.

"If I would have known there was two to go, I would have done the same thing because it's go time; you can't ride anymore. But I didn't know."

Kyle Busch's ninth-place finish earned him the 19th starting spot on the grid for Sunday's Daytona 500; Kurt Busch will start 13th.

Kyle Busch, who will maked his first start in the "Great American Race," said he doesn't feel intimidated going into Sunday's race.

"Basically, I have all the knowledge (about the track) that I've known from the Busch Series (races here)," he said. "I didn't really learn anything exceptional today; you're just trying to learn about how everybody's car works.

"We were able to hook up with a few cars and we found that we could run with them. I think (Kurt's) was the best car out there that would push us and we got up to the front. Overall, it was a decent run. We're happy with that finish, (but) I think we had a shot to finish third or fourth."

Busch said he was encouraged with the way his No. 5 Kellogg's Chevrolet handled on the slick track -- conditions that are expected to be similar to those he will face Sunday.

"It was real slick," Busch said. "It's pretty bad but everybody has got the same situation. I think ours was one of the top handling racecars, because everybody would start sliding up to the top of the racetrack and running up there, where I could still stay on the bottom and hug the bottom and pass some cars through the corners."

BURTON FOR THE DEFENSE: Jimmie Johnson was calling for Kevin Harvick's head after Harvick triggered the seven-car wreck in Thursday's second qualifying race, but Jeff Burton came to the defense of his Richard Childress Racing teammate.

"We were just going along and he (Harvick) pulls his head off his shoulders and starts bump drafting in the center of the turn," Johnson said after the incident. "I hope that Childress either fires him or does something about him or that NASCAR does something about him because this is ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous."

Burton said that Harvick isn't doing anything that the other 42 competitors each week aren't doing.

"(Harvick) wants to win in the worst way and because of that, sometimes he gets himself in some positions he may wish he hadn't have gotten in," Burton said, "but he got there for the right reason. He wants to do the right thing and he wants to win. And, like all of us, he doesn't always do the right thing, but not because he doesn't want to.

"When you put 43 racecar drivers on a racetrack and you say there is a 500-mile race and the first one to do it the quickest wins a lot of money and a trophy, you're going to have wrecks. That's why we wreck, because we're competitive and ... if we didn't care where we'd finish, there would never be a wreck."

The incident was not the first on-track altercation between Harvick and Johnson. A NASCAR spokesman said both drivers -- and their team owners and crew chiefs -- were summoned to the NASCAR trailer after the race and were warned by series president Mike Helton to resolve their differences or face harsh penalties.

Neither driver was penalized for Thursday's incident.

TIRE ISSUES: A Goodyear Tire official said Thursday that the tire supplier has "successfully addressed" the issue of tread separation that plagued some Nextel Cup teams earlier in the week.

Although some teams experienced heavy tire wear during Thursday's qualifying races, Goodyear's Stu Grant the performance of the tires was consistent with what is typically seen at Daytona and can be attributed to car balance.

"These qualifying races always are a good indicator of what to expect for the Daytona 500," Grant said, "and (Thursday's) weather and the full fuel stops that were run will be similar to what we'll see on Sunday."

Goodyear pulled more than 900 racing tires from circulation this week after finding a manufacturing defect.

GOING HOME: Robby Gordon and Kerry Earnhardt were among the 14 drivers who failed to qualify for Sunday's Daytona 500 under NASCAR's new qualifying procedure that guaranteed starting positions for the top 35 teams in owners points from the previous year.

Also heading home: Derrike Cope, Eric McClure, Stanton Barrett, Larry Gunselman, Johnny Sauter, Hermie Sadler, Andy Belmont, Randy LaJoie, Kirk Shelmerdine, Morgan Shepherd, Greg Sacks and Geoffrey Bodine.

CONSOLATION PRIZE: A few hours after learning he wouldn't be racing in the Daytona 500, Kerry Earnhardt went out and won the pole for tonight's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Daytona International Speedway.

Earnhardt's speed of 182.478 mph knocked Dennis Setzer off the provisional pole. Las Vegas native Brendan Gaughan qualified 10th and Orleans Racing teammate Steve Park qualified 18th in his backup truck.