Fort Worth, TX (Sports Network) - Kurt Busch conserved enough fuel to win
Sunday's Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, while Jimmie Johnson crashed in
the opening laps and saw his points lead drastically reduced with just two
races remaining in the "Chase for the Sprint Cup" championship.
Busch inherited the lead when his younger brother, Kyle, ran out of fuel with
less than three laps remaining. Both drivers last pitted with under 65 laps
remaining.
"I knew what we had for fuel mileage," said Kurt Busch, who scored his second
victory of the season and the 20th of his Sprint Cup Series career. "I was
confident in my guys' numbers. They gave me what I needed to win today. The
car was fast, and we were playing cat-and-mouse with Kyle on restarts. That
was the first true time that Kyle and I raced each other hard for a victory
like this."
Busch's last win came in March at Atlanta, a 1 1/2-mile track similar to
Texas.
Kyle Busch led 232 of 334 laps, but wound up 11th after coasting into the pits
for fuel. Busch was attempting to become the first driver to win all three of
NASCAR's national touring series races on the same weekend. He won Friday's
Camping World Truck Series race and Saturday's Nationwide Series event here.
"For us to come away and knock [Kyle] off his sweep he was trying to go for
was bittersweet," Kurt Busch said. "I was rooting for him, but at the same
time, this one is for us."
With the victory, Busch made contest winner Michael McGee $1 million happier.
McGee randomly selected Busch as the one Chase driver who would win the 500-
mile event at Texas in a promotional campaign by race-title sponsor Dickies.
While Busch celebrated with a backwards victory lap with the checkered flag in
hand, Johnson's day at Texas turned out to be disastrous after his wreck
resulted in a 38th-place finish and his points lead trimmed from 184 points to
73 over Mark Martin, who finished fourth.
"It's still a respectable lead," Johnson said. "I hated that we gave up all
these points tonight."
Johnson spent one hour and eight minutes behind the wall for repairs after
smacking the inside retaining wall along the backstretch on the third lap.
David Reutimann made slight contact with Sam Hornish Jr., and Hornish then
bumped Johnson, sending him into the wall.
Crew members from Johnson's team replaced both the front and rear suspension,
as well as the drive shaft and water cooling system. He finished the race 129
laps behind.
"The guys did a great job to get this car back on the track and get a couple
more spots, and we'll go to Phoenix and race," Johnson added.
Denny Hamlin finished second, and Matt Kenseth took the third spot. Kevin
Harvick completed the top-five.
Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer, Greg Biffle, Jeff Burton and A.J. Allmendinger
were sixth through 10th, respectively.
Jeff Gordon, the pole-sitter, moved within 112 points of Johnson after
finishing 13th.
Gordon survived an incident on lap 175 when Juan Pablo Montoya got loose and
bumped Carl Edwards from behind, sending Edwards into the outside wall. Gordon
spun while trying to avoid the accident.
Montoya and Edwards suffered heavy damage to their cars, while Gordon managed
not to hit anything.
"I think Carl was really close to me, and he drove right beside me and it got
me loose and I lost it," said Montoya, who finished 37th.
Montoya fell two positions in the Chase to sixth (-236). Edwards, who has yet
to win a Cup race this year, ended up 39th.
"I might win the race home," said Edwards, who won last year's fall race here.
"It's just racing, and that's how it goes."