|
Saturday, 03 May 2008 19:00 |
 By: Jay W. Pennell
Sprint Cup Correspondent
HardcoreRaceFans.com
That was the attitude of runner-up Kyle Busch following Saturday night\'s Crown Royal presents the Dan Lowry 400. A late race incident with Dale Earnhardt Jr. sent the No. 88 National Guard/Amp Chevrolet spinning into the outside wall from the lead and a shower a boos and booze from the grandstands.
With just five laps to go, Earnhardt Jr. led the field to the green flag for a typical short-track shootout. Busch lined his No. 18 Pedigree Camry up behind Junior and made his charge for the lead with two laps to go. Racing hard for the lead, Busch was able to get a nose under Earnhardt\'s car coming off Turn 2. The two battled side-by-side down the backstretch and into Turn 3, but only one of them made it out of the next corner.
As the two drove hard into the corner, their cars came together. Junior, who was on the outside, got the worst end of the deal and backed his car into the fence. The incident allowed race-winner Clint Bowyer to take the lead for the first time in the afternoon, as Busch continued on to second.
\"I figured we\'d race it out,\" a clearly dejected Earnhardt Jr. said following the race. \"He got a great run around [turns] 1 and 2, but he gave me room on the outside off [turn] 2, so I wouldn\'t say that was intentional going into [turn] 3. If he wanted to, he could\'ve just run me into the fence off [turn] 2.\"
With Junior out front, it appeared the sport\'s most popular driver was on his way to breaking his 71-race winless streak that stretched almost two years to the day. The Hendrick Motorsports driver had kept his nose clean, stayed up front and was able to capitalize on Denny Hamlin\'s misfortune when it mattered most. All was for naught as Junior was left to settle with a disappointing 15th place finish.
Earnhardt Jr. took his time to control his emotions after the race saying, \"The worst part about it is I\'ve been priding myself on running good all year and I was itching for a win and I ran hard and got wrecked. I had a top-3 car and should have finished in the top-3. Was going for the win and ended up on the hook today and just disappointed.\"
Busch was quick to point out, \"Everyone is probably racing around the race track scared to death to wreck Dale Earnhardt Jr., so why wouldn\'t I be any different. That was just a product of good hard racing. I apologized that it happened and I hate that it happened. If I wanted to do it deliberately, I probably would have waited until the last lap where I probably still could have won the race.\"
This was the second on-track incident for Busch in one weekend at Richmond International Raceway. Late-race contact with Steven Wallace in Friday night\'s Nationwide race caused tempers to overflow on pit road and harsh words exchanged in the media.
Never one to back down or mince words, Busch added, \"I drive a race car, and when I make mistakes, certain people have to pay for it, and unfortunately for the 88 bunch, they have to pay for it.\" ![](\"/images/stories/hcrflogo.jpg\")
|
