No. 5 Lowe’s Chevy Finishes 15th at LVMS
LAS VEGAS (March 6, 2004) – Kyle Busch and the No. 5 Team Lowe’s Racing crew scored a 15th-place finish in Saturday’s Sam’s Town 300 NASCAR Busch Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
While most drivers would be satisfied with a top-15 finish in their first Busch Series start at a track, given how well the Hendrick Motorsports entry had performed throughout Saturday’s event, Busch and his team were disappointed with the end result.
“We had been in the top-five for most of day, so I can’t say I’m completely satisfied,” Busch said. “We ran up front all day, though. We had our good times and then we had our bad times, but overall it was a strong day.”
One of the “bad times” Busch referred to was a penalty imposed on the No. 5 team around Lap 179 of the 200-lap event. NASCAR ruled that Busch was in the act of passing cars on a restart prior to the green flag being displayed, and imposed a “pass-through” penalty. NASCAR required the driver to first bring his car down pit road, and then drop to the tail end of the longest line of cars on the track.
The penalty dropped Busch, who was shown in seventh position on the restart, all the way back to 17th with less than 20 laps remaining.
“I’d like to see some footage of the restart,” Busch said. “I honestly don’t think I jumped the gun. I was watching the leader and when I saw him go, I went. When the leader goes, that usually means the green flag is out. But, it’s over and done with, and we’ll just move on.”
For crew chief Lance McGrew, the penalty was a case of déjà vu.
“A similar deal happened to us last year in Texas with Brian (Vickers, who drove the No. 5 Hendrick entry in 2003),” McGrew said. “We came back from that and won the championship, so hopefully, this won’t be too big of a setback.
“It was a judgment call on NASCAR’s part, so we’ll just put it behind us. I’m proud of Kyle and the team for the effort they put in today, though. We had a very strong car, and were in contention for the win before the penalty, so that’s a positive.”
Regardless of the outcome, Busch, a Las Vegas native, put on an impressive showing in front of the hometown fans. Starting from the 10th position, it took the 18-year-old driver just 10 laps to move into the top-five.
As the tires on the Team Lowe’s entry began to wear, the car developed a tight-handling condition, which allowed several other drivers to pass Busch and drop him back to eighth by Lap 25.
When an accident brought out the first caution flag of the event on Lap 33, crew chief Lance McGrew instructed Busch to bring the No. 5 Chevrolet to pit road for service. There, the Hendrick Motorsports crew went to work, making chassis and air-pressure adjustments to Busch’s car before sending him back out.
Following the restart, Busch worked his way back into the top-five, where he remained until tire-wear caused his car’s tight-handling condition to return. Several drivers were able to bypass Busch, dropping him back to seventh around Lap 90.
A round of green-flag pit stops ensued around this time, and on Lap 94, it was the No. 5 team’s turn to bring their entry to pit road. The team made quick work of the pit stop, but bad luck struck when a caution flag came out a few laps later for oil on the race track.
The caution period couldn’t have come at a worse time for a large number of teams that had just made their stops. In fact, only four teams were left on the lead lap at the time.
On the Lap 107 restart, the Team Lowe’s Racing entry was shown in 12th position, one lap down to the race leaders.
Busch stayed in and around the top-15 for the next 60 laps, until a caution on Lap 170 allowed the No. 5 team to make another pit stop for fresh tires and fuel.
The Hendrick pit crew completed the stop in just 14.1 seconds, returning Busch to the race in seventh position for the Lap 179 restart.
As the field passed the start-finish line, Busch made a run on the competition and passed a number of cars on the right-hand side. NASCAR’s timing and scoring monitor showed Busch as the race leader before officials ruled that he had jumped the restart.
After accepting his penalty, Busch restarted the race in 17th position on Lap 185, and picked up two positions in the closing laps to post his second top-15 finish in as many events. As the highest-finishing rookie, Busch also claimed his third Raybestos Rookie of the Race Award of the season.
With the result, Busch also holds on to the 12th position in the Busch Series driver standings for the second race in a row.
The event was won by Kevin Harvick, with Kasey Kahne, David Stremme, Michael Waltrip and Bobby Hamilton Jr. rounding out the top-five finishers.
The next event on the schedule for the No. 5 Team Lowe’s Racing crew is the Diamond Hill Plywood 200 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway on Saturday, March 20 (FX and MRN Radio, 12:30 p.m. ET).