Lapped cars problem for Busch contenders

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- For the second consecutive week, lapped traffic provided a frustrating and debilitating obstacle for the frontrunners in Saturday's NASCAR Busch Series event.

"It was horrendous," said third-place finisher Jason Keller. "First part of the race, I think I only ran 50 laps at speed. It was tough. I'd like to see, for sure, if a lot of those cars were really up to the minimal speed rule today."

CHANNELLOCK 250 Happy Harvick celebrates his ninth Busch Series win. Play video Raines, Keller and Green talk about their top-five finishes Play video  •  Results  •  Standings  •  Harvick wins wreck-marred Busch race at Bristol

One on occasion, Scott Wimmer and Scott Riggs were racing in the top five when they encountered Chase Montgomery's lapped machine. Riggs got a good run out of the corner and dove low past Montgomery -- right into Wimmer's path.

Wimmer, who had passed Montgomery on the high side before steering to the bottom of the track, was unaware of Riggs's advancement. The two collided, eliminating capable cars from the field.

"Some of the lapped cars would commit to bottom, and I commend them for that," Keller said. "They'd stay there and you could pick your way around them. But some were all over the place. Unluckily for my teammate (Riggs), he ran up on a lapped car that didn't know which groove to be in."

Since NASCAR has had some trouble filling out Busch Series fields, the lapped-car situation is not easily dealt with.

"There were a few of them that probably didn't need to be out there," said runner-up finisher Tony Raines. "It was a pain, but I guess they can't get experience without running, so you've just got to manage to work with them."

"It's an issue, but I think all in all everybody did alright," said David Green, who fell victim to a lapped car last week at Darlington before finishing fourth Saturday. "But I think we need to get rid of about half a dozen of them. It'd make it a better race."