Late restart at Memphis jumbles final finish

MILLINGTON, Tenn. -- When it comes to racing at short tracks, one can never etch the finish in stone when there's a late-race restart.

	Greg Biffle leads Ron Hornaday and Scott Wimmer before the crash that prematurely ended his day. Credit: VPS Motorimages

Such was the case for the Busch Series at the .75-mile oval of Memphis Motorsports Park in the Sam's Town 250 on Sunday. The last two laps drastically changed the finishing order, for some.

Race winner Scott Wimmer had a fairly sound lead over the second-place Ron Hornaday with six laps to go. However, Hornaday didn't have the same comfort level, because he was battling Johnny Sauter.

Sauter started to take his No. 2 ACDelco Chevy to inside of Hornaday's No. 26 Dr Pepper Chevrolet on lap 246, but suddenly lost control of the car and spun, causing the final caution of the day.

Just seconds before the spin, Hornaday had stuck his left hand out of the window and gestured to Sauter.

"I was telling him to be patient," Hornaday said. "I knew he could have gotten to my inside, but he just needed to do it in a patient manner."

	Jamie McMurray survived the last two laps to finish third. Credit: VPS Motorimages

The caution bunched the field up with Hornaday right behind Wimmer, followed by Jamie McMurray and Stacy Compton. On the restart, McMurray and Hornaday made contact, opening the door for Compton to go from fourth to second in one smooth move.

"We were racing pretty hard and the caution came out," Compton said. "On that last restart, I knew we had a good race car. We used pit strategy by taking tires with about 40 laps to go.

"We just needed to go green. That big wreck cost myself and Jamie, possibly a win. Both of us had tires and good cars and I just wish we had three more laps."

SAM'S TOWN 250  •  Unofficial Results  •  Unofficial Standings

This finish matched Compton's best of the year, which came at Talladega. McMurray wound up third while Hornaday slid all the way back to seventh as Hank Parker Jr. and Kerry Earnhardt moved by for top-five finishes.

For Parker, it was his third top-five and fifth top-10 finish of the year. Earnhardt, who started 19th, has two top-fives and four top-10s this season.