Winston run comes at right time for Busch

Second-place finish showcased strong Charlotte package

CONCORD, N.C. -- For an instant, Kurt Busch wondered whether he should pass the guys in front of him.

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He was running fifth in the second segment of The Winston, and with an inversion looming Saturday night for the final 20-lap dash at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Busch figured he was in a pretty good spot right where he was.

It goes against the nature of a race-car driver to let people get by you, but it seemed several cars in the top 10 were doing just that. They were loafing to the rear of the top 10, hoping to get a good starting spot after the fan-voted inversion of 10 cars.

So Busch, for a split second, figured he should do the same thing.

"We thought about it for an instant," Busch said. "Cars kept positioning themselves behind us."

	Busch has not scored a top-10 finish in a points event at Charlotte -- yet. Credit: Autostock

Busch chuckled for a moment. Sure, it was rather silly to get around drivers so easily. But the chance to pass was too great, and Busch floored it. He gave in to the temptation and charged to the front.

"We were running fifth in the second segment, and I felt like that was a good position to be in, whether we caught the invert or whether it was going to be a full 10," Busch said. "I kept passing cars in a way that they might have been positioning themselves for that for that third session.

"We took advantage of it. We got 50 grand in the bank, and we came back to finish second. Just an all-around good effort."

Busch has gotten used to that this season. And he's gotten used to running up front. His second-place finish in The Winston won't get him any points, but it was his fourth second of 2003 to go along with two victories.

He's third in the Winston Cup points standings as the series gets ready for Sunday's Coca-Cola 600, a race in which Busch hasn't had much luck. His best finish in the day-to-night race has been a 12th, and that was in his rookie year. Last year, Busch finished 31st.

Saturday in The Winston, though, Busch clearly was a front-runner. He and Kevin Harvick swapped the lead around in the closing laps of the second segment, each driver darting high and low to try to get the top spot.

Conversation: Kurt Busch  Kurt Busch has made a pretty fast ascent through the NASCAR hierarchy. He's only 24 years old, yet here he is winning five of the last 15 Winston Cup races. He's third in the points standings and is a legitimate contender to bring car owner Jack Roush his first Winston Cup championship.  There haven been bumps along the road, of course, but Busch is learning.  He spent some time recently with NASCAR.com's Lee Montgomery to talk about life, his beloved Chicago Cubs, Roush and other topics. And of course, dip. Full Story

"I thought that was a great show when we were racing the 29," Busch said. "That was a lot of fun. I was gassing it up, trying to enjoy the moment and trying to make sure we took care of our car."

Of course, fans voted to invert 10 cars, so Busch had to start the 20-lap final segment from 10th place. The first restart was a good one, as Harvick and Busch roared past several cars at the drop of the green.

Well, NASCAR decided it was a little before the green, so the sanctioning body waved the yellow to try again.

"They wrecked a couple of cars, so there wasn't a full field of 14," Busch said. "The 21 car pulled to the inside, so I was the last car on the outside lane. With the rules the way they're set up for The Winston, this is a restart, this is not the initial start, so you can pass to the outside.

"I saw an opportunity to make a pass. No-man's land opens up, and you put it in there and see what happens. Harvick had the same idea. I knew when my spotter said, 'Four-wide,' and I hadn't been to the start-finish line yet, we were going to get pulled back."

On the second green flag, Busch's start wasn't quite as good, but it was legal. Still, the No. 97 Ford started moving through the pack. With 20 laps left, it was a longshot to get back into the lead.

But Busch wasn't going to quit. He sliced his way into the top five and caught second-place Michael Waltrip. Those two raced hard for several laps before Busch got around Waltrip.

Johnson, though, was long gone. So Busch had to settle for second place. Not a bad finish, but it wasn't first - where he was in the second segment.

A year ago, Johnson won the second segment but couldn't get back to the front. He said he learned a valuable lesson in 2002: prepare for the inversion.

	Busch is only 167 points out of first. Credit: Autostock

Busch, however, couldn't bring himself to say the same thing. This is racing, he said.

"Why don't we put up money for passing race cars?" Busch said. "That's what puts on a good show. I don't think playing possum puts on a good show. There are guys that positioned themselves to do that.

"I was running fifth in the second segment, and I said, 'OK, we're just going to park it here.' But the fans come out to see a good show. It's not that I chose to pass cars, but on that 30-lap run, our car just kept getting better as time went on.

"I'm not saying it's wrong to play possum. There are guys that choose to do that, and there are guys that choose to race their car. It's just ends up at the end of the day, it might not be the fastest car that won the race."

That's the unique nature of The Winston, where having a fast car - but not necessarily the fastest - and odd strategy can sometimes mean victory.

But Busch knows the 600 will be different, and maybe the outcome will be, too.