Monday, Feb. 21, 2005 | 9:26 a.m.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- NASCAR Nextel Cup rookie Kyle Busch's first Daytona 500 was over before he was able to wear out a set of Goodyear tires.
Busch, a Las Vegas native, was involved in a six-car wreck Sunday on lap 26 at Daytona International Speedway. The radiator on Busch's No. 5 Kellogg's Chevrolet was damaged in the incident and he was forced twice to head to the garage area while his crew repaired the damage.
Busch, 19, finished 38th and completed only 148 of 200 laps. Busch was caught up in a wreck that was triggered when Ricky Rudd cut a tire and spun coming out of Turn 4.
"I don't know exactly what happened," Busch said. "I don't know if it was bump drafting in the middle of the corner again or if a tire went down.
"I was trying to slow down and it didn't matter if you got to zero miles per hour, somebody was going to wreck you either from behind or from the front. It's just a shame that we got caught up in it, but there's nothing else that we can do except go on to next week and hopefully wear them out at the downforce tracks."
Busch started 19th in the race and was running 26th at the time of the accident. As is the case with most rookie drivers at Daytona, Busch had little drafting help and was unable to make a significant move in the race.
"We were just kind of hanging out there in the beginning -- of course, nobody was working with us," Busch said. "I was just kind of going to ride around and wait until the end or wait until at least the middle of the race to start getting busy, but they decided that they needed to wreck earlier."
The only bright spots on the day for Busch was the fact that his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jeff Gordon, won the race and his older brother, Kurt, finished second.
"It's awesome," Busch said of Gordon's victory. "They did great and it's good for those guys to win. Of course, Kurt finished second. I'm happy overall for Jeff and their team and (for) Kurt as well.
"I wish we could have had a little better day."
MARTIN, WALLACE DENIED: Mark Martin and Rusty Wallace both turned in strong runs Sunday in their final Daytona 500 starts, but there would be no storybook ending for either driver.
Martin, who now is winless in 21 career Daytona 500 starts, ran as high as second place in the final quarter of the race before settling for a sixth-place finish.
"I thought we were sitting pretty good when we were second and third, I really, really did," said Martin, who was second when the race restarted on lap 166 following the seventh of 11 caution periods. "I should have never let Jeff (Gordon) get on the inside of me there. It happened so quick, I couldn't do anything about it."
Martin got caught out of the draft on the restart and was quickly shuffled back to 11th place.
"It was my mistake," he added. "Had I been up there, no telling what would have happened. Stewart was a shoo-in to win and didn't, so what are you going to do?"
Wallace, who extended his Daytona 500 winless streak to 23 races, had an agreement to hook up with Martin in the closing laps for a possible run to the front, but the opportunity never materialized. Wallace, who started 36th, finished 10th.
"I put on a good performance out there all day and my car ran strong all day," Wallace said. "I was hoping it wasn't going to come down to the green-white-checkered. With 18 laps to go, we had plenty of fuel and we were running great. We had a good dancing partner hooked up and it didn't happen.
"We got a good top-10 finish and that was cool; that's a good way to start the season. Now we'll just have to keep improving every week and make sure we get in the Chase (for the Nextel Cup)."
TEMPER, TEMPER: Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart were summoned to the NASCAR trailer by series president Mike Helton after the two drivers got into a bumping match on the track at the conclusion of the Daytona 500.
Both Stewart and Johnson said the incident was not a big deal.
"We're racing and it's the last lap of the Daytona 500," Stewart said. "I was mad (that Johnson) pinched me into the No.10 (Scott Riggs). We went down there and we both bumped into each other. We both did the same thing to each other so, you know, it's fine.
"NASCAR, more than anything, wanted to make sure it wasn't something that was going to linger overnight. Jimmie and I are really, really good friends and this isn't something that's going to linger tonight. It's over with."
Johnson agreed with Stewart.
"NASCAR was kind of joking about it inside the trailer, saying that they just want to make sure there wasn't anything to start off the season," Johnson said. "As Tony had mentioned, it's just hard racing. We both come to the finish line doing all we can. There's been a lot more media attention to this than was ever needed."
BRIEFLY: Jeff Gordon earned $1,474,466 for his victory Sunday and leaves Daytona with a 15-point lead over Kurt Busch in the Nextel Cup standings. Busch earned $1,082,350 for second place and is tied with Dale Earnhardt Jr. for second in the Nextel Cup standings with 170 points each. ... The Nextel Cup Series heads to the West this weekend for a Sunday race at California Speedway in Fontana. Following a week off, the Nextel Cup will be at Las Vegas Motor Speedway March 11-13.
archive
