Spencer hopes cooler heads prevail

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Races at Bristol Motor Speedway are always exciting, with plenty of action ... and arguments. Some of the recent finishes have been a big part of the controversy, as both races last year had bump-and-run endings.

In the first race at Bristol last year, Kurt Busch nudged Jimmy Spencer in the late going and went on to win. In the second race, Jeff Gordon bumped Rusty Wallace out of the way on the last lap to get the victory.

	Jimmy Spencer Credit: Autostock

Is that just racing? Spencer doesn't think so.

"I'm shocked at the way the races have been handled lately at this track," Spencer said. "They bumped Rusty and cost him the win. They bumped me and cost me the win. It's exciting, but on the other side of it, what goes around comes around. I feel bad for Rusty. It's like 'OK, we can get away with it because it's the last lap or we can get away with it because we're at Bristol and people expect it.' Well, I disagree."

Spencer said if the finishes keep happening like those two, NASCAR would have to intervene.

"(Dale) Earnhardt and Terry (Labonte) got into it up here one year on the last lap," Spencer said. "Earnhardt just wanted to rattle his cage. I love Dale Earnhardt. I ran second that day, but I think that was wrong. Dale hit Terry Labonte, knocked him out of the way and spun him out. It was obvious. 'I didn't mean to do it.'

"It was like Todd Bodine last week (in the Busch Series race). 'I didn't mean to do it,' but they won. Do we issue fines? I think we should go back to the way we did it 20 years ago -- meet you outside."

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NASCAR probably wouldn't like that, of course. But Spencer said the real solution is not to knock someone out of the way.

"I wouldn't move 'em," Spencer said. "I feel like I passed Kurt Busch fair and square here last year. I didn't bump him and knock him out of the way. He slammed into me. I don't know what happened between Gordon and Rusty, but I think if a guy hits me to get by me for the lead, yeah, I'll probably retaliate. I think that's the way you're supposed to race.

"My theory is you race them the way they race you. You rough Jimmy Spencer up, you're going to get it back. You're going to start it, and I'm going to finish it."

Last weekend's finish in the Winston Cup race at Darlington Raceway is "the way you need to finish a race," Spencer said.

"It was absolutely the last-second quarterback throw into the corner of the end zone to win the Super Bowl," Spencer said. "It's a fine line, but that's what we get paid for. We don't get paid to spin each other out."

Monday's Busch Series race at Darlington had an exciting finish, too, but Spencer pointed an accusing finger at the winner, Todd Bodine.

"He says, 'I lost it.' He loses it a lot," Spencer said. "Things like that could come back to haunt you for many, many weeks. Some of these guys pay you back once and they don't think that's enough. They'll do it again and again. That's really bad because you've got 70 guys back at the shop working to get a car ready to race each week. It's not right for someone to destroy that car and then just say, 'I lost it.'"

Busch hopes engine trouble is solved

Roush Racing's engine woes have been well documented the past few weeks, as Roush cars have lost five engines in the last three races. One of them was Kurt Busch, who despite three second-place finishes in 2003 is sixth in the points.

	Kurt Busch Credit: Autostock

Busch blew an engine at Atlanta Motor Speedway and voiced his displeasure.

"I respect the work that gets done up in Michigan (Roush's engine facility)," Busch said. "It's just difficult to deal with sometimes, and I did flip up at Atlanta. ... I didn't deal with it the right way, and Jack let me know about it."

Busch has had engine troubles in the past, as he said he has blown 12 engines in practice or races since he's been to Winston Cup, and "the way this year started, it didn't seem like there was any light at the end of the tunnel," he said.

"I have to be very hopeful that we can cure the problem," Busch said. "We go into Texas obviously with a whole new revamped process because Atlanta failed us. We've got new crankshafts, we've got new rods, there's a new process behind everything, whereas Jack's trying to catch up and make sure that he does the right things within the motor program.

"And then yet he might hold on too strongly because that is his baby. He needs to let his engineers and his motor development department in Michigan take over the primary role."

McMurray's Busch team helps him in Winston Cup

One of the pleasant surprises in the Busch Series has been Jamie McMurray, who joined the Phoenix Racing team this year to help out his Winston Cup effort. All McMurray has done in the No. 1 car this year is win once, finish second once and finish fifth once.

Has it helped out with his Winston Cup team?

"I don't know that it always helps out," McMurray said. "For a guy like Jeff Burton or Michael Waltrip, I don't think it does because those guys have been around so long. They've been to all these race tracks so many times that I don't they get as much out of it as I do. This is my fifth time to Bristol, so I'm going to learn a lot. When you get to run all those laps in the same weekend, it helps everything else make sense."

Conversely, McMurray's Winston Cup ride has helped his Busch team.

"I wasn't a top-five car every week last year in the Busch Series," McMurray said. "We ended our season pretty good. ... It's really good equipment. When I get out of my Cup car and get in my Busch car, you feel like you're so much more in control. You're running only a little bit slower, but it feels like you're running a lot slower."