Busch, Craven friendly after heartstopping finish

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- Sunday's finish to the 100th NASCAR Winston Cup event in the history of Darlington Raceway was the stuff of which legends -- and rivalries -- are made.

But if the sparks fly again between Ricky Craven and Kurt Busch, they say it will simply be a case of hard racing.

	Kurt Busch hugs Ricky Craven after Sunday's race. Credit: Autostock

Craven and Busch beat on each other for two laps of the 1.366-mile speedway before they slid across the finish line with the left front corner of Craven's No. 32 Tide Pontiac ahead of Busch's Rubbermaid Ford by inches.

The official margin of victory was .002 seconds, which officials tagged the closest finish in NASCAR since electronic scoring came into use in 1993. It might have been the closest ever.

But rather than portray the outcome as the birth of a bitter rivalry, Busch said he was anxious to congratulate Craven, who scored his second career victory and his first since October 2001.

"I can't wait to see him -- I'll certainly slap him a couple high-fives and we'll share a couple beers later on," said Busch, who went to Victory Lane to congratulate Craven after visiting the Media Center. "That was the coolest finish that I've ever seen and I'm glad that I was a part of it."

"I've got to tell you," Craven, 36, said of Busch's visit. "That tops off the whole deal. Had he not come over I would not have lost any sleep. But the fact that he did come over is neat (and) I think that helps.

Give an inch, get a win  DARLILNGTON, S.C. (AP) -- The five closest finishes in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series since the current electronic timing and scoring System was instituted in 1993:  .002 -- Ricky Craven beats Kurt Busch, Darlington Raceway, March 16, 2003.  .005 -- Dale Earnhardt beats Ernie Irvan, Talladega Superspeedway, July 25, 1993.  .006 -- Kevin Harvick beats Jeff Gordon, Atlanta Motor Speedway, March 11, 2001.  .010 -- Dale Earnhardt beats Bobby Labonte, Atlanta Motor Speedway, March 12, 2000.  .025 -- Jimmy Spencer beats Bill Elliott, Talladega Superspeedway, July 24, 1994.

"I think that all helps (because) we'll be in that situation again. It might be for fourth or fifth or whatever, but he was cool. If I had lost I would have been very disappointed because I'm not 22 or however old he is and I probably don't have the years left that he does.

"But, I certainly wouldn't have arm-wrestled him and made a fool of myself."

Busch has himself been riding a hot streak after he broke through with four victories last season -- including three in the season's last five races.

"It's a bit stale that I was on the wrong end of it (finish)," Busch said. "It was just an awesome duel between two guys that don't win all that often and that excel at conserving tires.

"That's what it's all about -- just racing as hard as you can."

For his part Craven, who led only the last lap of the race, didn't even know he'd won -- and got no definitive word from his team.

"There was a lot of hollering (on the in-car radio)," Craven said. "My crew chief (Scott Miller) said, 'That was incredible.'

"Everyone was (talking) on the radio and I was actually a little bit frustrated because I thought, 'Great, great. Glad that we entertained you, but did we win the race?'

"I came off of Turn 2 and I looked up and it showed us first on the scoreboard (and) that was the confirmation."

VIDEO CLIPS Final laps Play video Victory Lane Play video Busch finishes second for third time in 2003 Play video Blaney notches first career top-five finish Play video Martin ends up fourth Play video Burton's engine expires Play video Marlin, Johnson collide Play video Green flag Play video

The four other closest finishes in the electronic scoring era occurred twice at Talladega Superspeedway and twice at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

The late Dale Earnhardt defeated Ernie Irvan by .005 at Talladega in July 1993. Kevin Harvick defeated Jeff Gordon by .006 at AMS in March 2001. Earnhardt previewed that finish at Atlanta in March 2000 when he nipped Bobby Labonte by .010. Jimmy Spencer defeated Bill Elliott by .025 at Talladega in July 1994.

Busch had reason to be a little bitter. At one point he darted from third to first after leader Jeff Gordon slapped the wall and second-place Elliott Sadler hesitated in passing Gordon.

Before that, Busch had raced for several laps with Gordon and passed him no less than twice by driving so deep into Turn 3 that MRN Radio announcer Barney Hall coined one of the lines of the year.

"Busch has been braver than Dick Tracy the last couple times into Turn 3," the veteran broadcaster quipped. But in the end, the loss of his car's power steering and a determined Craven did in Busch.

"We're happy with second place because we know we're missing something as far as the complete package," Busch said of his steering woes, which made the car seem to weigh "10,000 pounds" at the end of the race. "I can't let up. I've got to make sure our team goes and runs the way it's supposed to."

Craven, however, put the spectacular finish into the perfect perspective.

"I have not seen a replay of the race and I'm going to be honest with you," he said. "I would really like to confirm that we actually won.

"I'm scored to death that we're going to wake up and it's going to be like Daytona 50 years ago (inaugural Daytona 500 in 1959) (where) they come across a photo that says, 'Whoa, whoa, whoa.'

"I don't know how close it was."