Kurt Busch spun out on pit road, collecting his jackman as his crew prepared for the stop. Credit: Getty Images
By Dave Rodman, Turner Sports Interactive
February 14, 2003
11:34 AM EST (1634 GMT)
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Not only did a scrap on pit road midway through Thursday's second Gatorade 125-mile qualifying race radically alter the finishing order of that event -- it also severely affected four drivers' status for the Daytona 500.
Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch had legitimate shots to battle for the win with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Waltrip, but an apparent miscue by Busch on pit road eliminated them both from contention.
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On a run to the pits on lap 32, Busch appeared to hit pit road too fast in his No. 97 Ford. He locked his car's brakes in the outside lane and slid along, forcing the following cars to spread out into two lanes behind him and to his left.
When Busch tried to turn left into his pit stall, his car struck the right front corner of Kevin Harvick's No. 29 Chevrolet, which was heading to its stall located midway down pit road.
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Busch's car spun backwards into its stall, striking jackman Scott Radel and knocking him back. After Busch turned his car around and completed his stop he was held a lap for spinning on pit road.
Radel completed the pit stop and was later examined at the track's infield care center where he was released with no injuries.
Harvick was able to continue on the lead lap after pitting, but ran only eight more laps before he drove his damaged car to the garage area and retired into 25th position.
It was a bitter disappointment for the driver who ran no worse than third until the fateful pit stop.
"Sure not the way we wanted to finish the day," Harvick said. "We had a great car from the start and I was content to run second there behind Junior with Michael behind.
"He (Earnhardt) got out of line and I just felt good enough to run out front."
He was more direct in his assessment of the accident.
"I think Busch came in at about 500 mph and couldn't stop himself," Harvick said. "I didn't even see him come across me until it was too late. It pushed our right front fender in and our day was done.
"He was driving way over his head, and it ended up costing us big, but it'll be okay. We've got a lot of guys from the fab shop here who will make this car better than it was.
"Now you get to watch us race from 31st to first."
Busch continued until the end of the race, but never came close to making up the one lap and finished 24th.
It was the second straight major race at Daytona in which pit road was Busch's undoing. He was held for a lengthy penalty in the pits in last summer's Pepsi 400.
After the race, Busch had little to say about the incident.
"A lot of events led to the final outcome," he said obliquely. "The only real thing that we need to explain is that I'm sorry for making the mistake that I made -- and I hope that all of the people on pit road are safe, and that everybody that deserved to be in the show is in the show.
"I'm sorry to have that outcome."
Perhaps the most significant result of the pit road incident was lost ground for Tony Raines. The rookie jammed on his brakes to avoid getting caught up in the melee, and subsequently lost touch with the lead draft when he came out of the pits.
Raines' loss was Ken Schrader's gain. Schrader moved into the top 15 in Raines' place to start the 500 in his first race for BAM Racing. Schrader needed to race his way in, having neither a fast enough speed nor a high enough spot in the 2002 owner points to qualify for a spot.
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