Busch livid after big wreck at Talladega

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Kurt Busch didn't win any more fans Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway.

	Kurt Busch

After Busch got a tap from behind from Tony Stewart that triggered an 11-car accident on Lap 83 of the Aaron's 499, Busch was critical of the racing at the 2.66-mile track. The interview was heard over the public-address system at the track and immediately drew a shower of boos.

"Just looking forward to the next race," Busch said after emerging from the infield care center. "We go to a real racetrack where you can race side-by-side and not have a draft that ruins it. We just got ruined by the draft today."

Busch was clearly in a foul mood after the wreck, repeatedly telling several reporters, "We wrecked" to each question.

Later, Busch was critical of Stewart, whose right-front tapped the left-rear of Busch's car heading into Turn 3, sending Busch spinning up the track and in front of the pack. Kenny and Rusty Wallace, Derrike Cope and Kasey Kahne were trapped behind Busch's car as they slid into the outside wall.

AARON'S 499 Gordon celebrates his first win of the 2004 season Play video Johnson and Stewart discuss their performances Play video Gordon edges Junior as the race ends under caution Play video The Big One collects 11 cars on Lap 83 Play video Drivers react and place blame after The Big One Play video Kenseth spins in the tri-oval but avoids disaster Play video Johnson cuts a tire and Kenseth's engine blows Play video  •  Results  •  Standings

As is typical at Talladega, there wasn't much room for anyone else, and several more cars suffered damage.

Busch, Kenny and Rusty Wallace, Cope, Kahne, Scott Riggs and Dave Blaney went to the garage, while Terry Labonte, Ryan Newman, Jeremy Mayfield and Stewart continued.

Who was to blame? Busch pointed the finger at Stewart.

"We drafted down the front straightaway together real well," Busch said. "All race I acknowledged he was on the bottom line. That's cool. We drafted together. I was gonna call him on Monday: 'Dude, everything was great.'"

"I don't know why he committed to Turn 3 as late as he did. He knew he needed to follow me, and now we're here instead of out on the track."

Rusty Wallace didn't name any names, but he blamed Stewart, too.

"The racing was very aggressive," he said. "Cars were all over each other. I got turned sideways one time, got hit in the rear end. The same guy that hit me in the rear end hit another guy in the rear end and turned him sideways. I think he's the one that caused the big wreck out there."

Stewart took responsibility for running into Busch.

"I got underneath him and then got him in a compromising position, and I started to back out," Stewart said. "I just didn't back up enough top get him out of it."

But restrictor plates should shoulder some of the blame, Stewart said.

"Everybody can say what they want, and the fans are going to say what they want to," Stewart said. "This is a product of restrictor-plate racing. If they want to script us a script and tell us where they want us to run each lap, that's fine. We can do that, too.

	After cars collided on the top of the track's banking, they collided again coming down the banking. Credit: Autostock

"But Kurt and I get along good. I sure didn't want that to happen to him or anybody else. If you look at our track record in restrictor-place racing, I don't think we've caused too many wrecks in our career."

After Busch spun up the track, he trapped Kenny and Rusty Wallace, Cope and Kahne against the wall.

"I hit Kurt Busch first, and then I went into the wall, and then I slid down, and my poor brother Rusty got into me," Wallace said. "It's a bad deal all around."

Rookie Scott Riggs, who qualified fifth, had the accident missed before someone tapped the rear of the No. 10 Chevrolet

"Just a crash in front of me," Riggs said. "I was whoa-ing it down, and the spotter said, 'Go low.' I turned low, and somebody hit me in the rear and pushed me right into somebody.

"Just typical Talladega."

	Several cars were able to escape the wreckage. Credit: Autostock

Another rookie, Kahne, has found that out the hard way. Kahne wrecked in Saturday's Busch Series race, and he wrecked again Sunday.

"Yeah, it's frustrating," Kahne said. "Speedway racing sometimes is like that. You put yourself in the middle of a pack, and if people crash, you're in it."

The racing was furious the first half of the race, with 32 lead changes among 17 drivers in the first 94 laps. Some drivers said the racing was a little too hard.

"You're trying to make something happen," Cope said. "You're trying to pass cars. That's what you do. You can't blame a guy for trying to make a move on somebody. That's just part of racing.

"It's going to happen here. Sometimes you miss 'em, and sometimes you don't."