Strong Showing for Team Lowe’s Racing at Nashville

LEBANON, Tenn. (April 10, 2004) – For the second week in a row, it appeared that Kyle Busch and the No. 5 Team Lowe’s Racing crew might be headed for their first win of the 2004 NASCAR Busch Series season. In the closing laps of Saturday’s 300-mile race at Nashville Superspeedway, Busch and Clint Bowyer were battling side-by-side for the lead with two laps remaining in the 225-lap event. As Busch cleared Bowyer going into Turn 2, Bowyer tapped Busch’s No. 5 Lowe’s/Pella Chevrolet, sending Busch spinning. Johnny Benson, who was running third, was unable to check up and plowed into Bowyer. Robby Gordon was also collected in the accident, with all four drivers spinning into the infield grass. Michael Waltrip and Johnny Sauter were able to drive to the high side of the track and avoid the accident, with Waltrip passing Sauter just as the caution flag came out. With everyone’s position frozen under yellow flag conditions, Waltrip inherited the win as the race ended under caution. NASCAR awarded Busch the sixth finishing position, marking his third top-10 finish in as many weeks. Busch and his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports crew were contenders throughout Saturday’s event, with Busch leading six laps and running consistently inside the top five for virtually the entire race. Starting from the 12th position, Busch found his way into the top 10 by Lap 3, and moved up as high as third before the first caution flag came out on Lap 59. Under the caution period, Busch brought his car to pit road for service, where his crew made a track-bar adjustment to alleviate a tight-handling condition. With fresh tires and a full fuel cell on his entry, Busch returned to the track in third position for the Lap 69 restart. A second caution period occurred on Lap 83 for a one-car spin on the backstretch of the 1.3-mile facility. Busch found himself in second place for the Lap 89 restart, and moved into the top spot on Lap 106. Six laps later, Bowyer passed Busch to take over the lead, and Ron Hornaday got by Busch to take over second on Lap 134. Two laps later, crew chief Lance McGrew told Busch to bring the No. 5 Lowe’s/Pella Chevy in for a green-flag pit stop, where the crew made quick work of putting on fresh tires and filling the car with fuel. Busch returned to the race one lap down to the leaders. Had the race remained under green-flag conditions, the leaders would have had to pit within a couple of laps, and Busch would have cycled back into the top five. As it was, a caution flag came out on Lap 143, before some of the leaders had come to pit road. Fortunately, Busch was the first driver one lap down and as such, was awarded the so-called “Lucky Dog” pass from NASCAR, which put him back on the lead lap. This fortunate turn of events allowed Busch to come back in for fresh tires before the Lap 153 restart. As the recipient of the “Lucky Dog” pass, NASCAR rules dictated that Busch would restart the race at the tail end of the longest line. Just two laps later, an accident involving the cars of Hornaday and Waltrip brought out the fourth caution flag of the event. What followed was a long discussion between McGrew and NASCAR officials. Officials pointed out that Busch had not been at the tail end of the longest line when the green flag was displayed. Busch explained to his crew via radio that he had correctly pulled to the low side of the track during the caution period to allow his competitors to bypass him and drop him to the tail end of the longest line. It seemed that some drivers chose not to pass Busch before the green flag came out. McGrew told the officials that, short of having his driver come to a complete stop on the track, he did not see what more Busch and he could have done. After much discussion with NASCAR officials to plead his team’s case, McGrew told Busch to come down pit road and serve a pass-through penalty. When the situation was resolved and the race returned to green-flag conditions on Lap 160, Busch again found himself in third position. For the next 50 laps, McGrew told his driver to conserve as much fuel as possible, as the team’s calculations showed they would be very close to having enough to make it to the finish. In another fortunate turn of events, a caution flag came out for debris just as Busch radioed his crew that the needle on his fuel pressure gauge had fluctuated, an indication that he might be out of fuel. Busch was able to come in and get fresh tires and a can of fuel to go the distance, and he returned to the track in third position for the Lap 221 restart, behind the cars of Kasey Kahne and Bowyer. With Kahne on older tires, it didn’t take long for Bowyer and Busch to bypass him. Busch quickly closed the gap on Bowyer, and tried to get by Bowyer’s No. 21 machine entering Turn 3. The two cars made contact, with both drivers gathering up their machines and continuing. As the field entered Turn 1 on Lap 224, Busch appeared to have cleared Bowyer on the high side of the track. The nose of Bowyer’s machine then made contact with the rear of Busch’s No. 5 entry in Turn 2. Bowyer later told reporters that he backed off to allow Busch to regain control of his car, but Benson hit Bowyer and pushed him into Busch. Busch, Bowyer, Benson and Gordon all slid to the inside of the track as Sauter and Waltrip went high to avoid the accident. All four drivers involved in the incident were able to straighten out their cars and make it to the finish line under their own power. McGrew put the day in perspective, saying, “That was just hard racing. If I were (Bowyer’s) crew chief, I’d have expected him to do the exact same thing. If Kyle had been in Bowyer’s position, I’d have expected him to do the exact same thing. We had a great shot at the win, but we ended up with a top-10 finish and had a good day in the points standings, so it’s hard to be too upset. “This was our first time here with Kyle in a Busch car, and we tried a setup that was radically different than what we’ve run here in the past, so I’m very pleased with how well we performed. We’ve got some great notes to come back here in June with, and I think we can contend for the win again.” With the finish, Busch moves up one position to third in the Busch Series standings, 56 points behind leader Waltrip. Busch and his team now have four top-10 finishes in seven races, and Busch increased his lead over Paul Menard to 35 points in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year battle. The No. 5 Team Lowe’s Racing crew now takes a weekend off before heading to Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, site of the eighth event on the 2004 Busch Series schedule. The Aaron’s 312 will air live on the FOX and MRN Radio on Saturday, April 24 at 2 p.m. ET.