Kurt Busch: "We want to beat (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) on the racetrack. This is just a quick point difference that was 13 in his favor and now it's 12 in our favor, but we've got seven races to go." Credit: Autostock

Dale Jr. penalty gives Chase lead to Busch

CONCORD, N.C. -- Kurt Busch took over the NASCAR Nextel Cup points standings Tuesday morning while testing at Martinsville Speedway.

He left Talladega Superspeedway 13 points behind Dale Earnhardt Jr., but NASCAR's decision to penalize Earnhardt Jr. for profanity after the EA Sports 500 gave Busch the points lead.

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"It's unfortunate," Busch said during a break in testing at Martinsville. "The emotions in Victory Lane overcame him. He was the dominant car all day and deserved to win. The way he's been there in the past, (and) we expected him to do that well.

"But for us, we want to beat him on the racetrack. This is just a quick point difference that was 13 in his favor and now it's 12 in our favor, but we've got seven races to go. Hopefully, these 25 points won't come into the final factor because we want to beat him on the racetrack."

Busch said he hopes to go into the final race at Homestead-Miami Speedway with a "155-point edge, and that way we won't have to worry about that last race."

"Yeah, we can get into the specifics of it if we want, but I want to say that we want to beat the 8 car out on the race track and not with the penalty," Busch said.

Busch finished fifth at Talladega. Credit: Autostock

Busch is up by 12 points over Earnhardt Jr., 48 over Jeff Gordon and 98 over Roush Racing teammate Mark Martin after NASCAR adjusted the standings.

Even though it's only been a few hours, Busch admits to a different feeling being the leader instead of being in second.

"It really is a feather in the crew's hat, and the team can feel the different intensity of being the points leader, but it can go away just that quick," Busch said. "It's something that you don't focus on, but yet you do have it in the back of your mind that you've done the best job in these three races so far.

"Everybody positioned themselves to get into the Nextel Chase for the Cup, but now it's time to go, and we've done the best so far in these first three. We've got seven to go."

Busch won the first Chase for the Nextel Cup race, dominating at New Hampshire. He's finished fifth in the next two races, including a hard-fought top-five at Talladega on Sunday.

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Talladega was a wild-card in many drivers' minds, with the real racing taking place at the other nine tracks. This weekend, it's the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway that takes center stage.

"It's a very fast racetrack," Busch said. "They built it almost too fast -- similar to Chicago. It was a sister track supposedly to Vegas, but Vegas is flat enough to where you can run any multiple groove you want. We'll see when we go this time around. I tested there last week.

"It seems like we're on our own little testing 500, 1,500, 2,000. Whatever we're testing we're making so many laps that we're trying to keep up with all of our notes. Kansas should be a good race for us."

The way to win at Kansas and from here on out is to handle well at the end of a run, Busch said.

"The guy that has the fastest car at the end of his run is going to be the guy that wins," Busch said.

"We were that car at Loudon. Ryan Newman was that car at Dover. Talladega is a crapshoot, and the 8 car is always the fast car there, so when we go to Kansas and Charlotte -- these next mile-and-a-halves -- that's gonna set the tone, I believe, for this Chase for the Nextel Cup."