Kurt Busch: "We started off the Chase with a win and we finished with a top-five and a pole." Credit: Autostock

Path to title paved with consistency, good luck

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- The answer to how Roush Racing and Kurt Busch won the Chase for the Nextel Cup is simple.

Busch and veteran Roush crew chief Jimmy Fennig utilized consistency, fortified with liberal doses of racing luck, to win owner Jack Roush's second consecutive championship.

Kurt Busch Credit: Autostock

In Sunday's Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Busch, Roush and Fennig successfully sealed the closest Cup championship battle in NASCAR history, after falling as much as 55 points behind during the race.

"It's an unbelievable deal," Busch said. "This is what a team does to win a championship -- they persevere on a day such as this.

"All year long we've done things like this, whether we put ourselves in a hole or whether we had a small problem. I just can't believe we were able to overcome all of that turmoil today."

Busch came back from losing a right front wheel on his No. 97 Ford early in the race to end up fifth in a green-white-checkered finish. It marked his ninth top-10 result in the 10 Chase races and gained Ford its seventh drivers' championship in NASCAR's premiere division.

Ford 400 Videos The Champ Kurt Busch receives the 2004 Nextel Cup trophy Victory Lane Biffle celebrates after winning the Ford 400 Final laps Two late wrecks set up a mad dash for the Nextel Cup Runner up Jimmie Johnson reflects on an emotional season Holding at four Jeff Gordon finishes third in the NNC standings Coming up short Dale Earnhardt Jr. assesses his championship run Down and out Mayfield cuts a tire and slams into the wall Close call Busch loses a front wheel but stays on the lead lap Avoiding disaster Johnson avoids two early wrecks after starting in the back

"I'd like to put a cap on today and move on in what we did this year as a team, which was unbelievable," Busch said. "This championship is for Jimmy Fennig. I can't believe it for our team, for everybody that has put work into this car (but) Jimmy has done the deal."

Even though his lone failure was a seemingly devastating 42nd-place blow after an engine failure at Atlanta Motor Speedway in race seven of the Chase, Busch balanced that with six top-five finishes.

For the season, he had three wins, 10 top-fives and 21 top-10s. None led the league -- in fact, championship runner-up Jimmie Johnson had twice as many top-fives and Busch was only fourth in top-10s -- but consistency paid.

"Just an unbelievable day," Busch said Sunday. "To be able to persevere such as we did again -- to overcome all the different obstacles (and) to put together a great season such as we did.

"With the regular season (we did a) superb job and then with the playoffs -- outstanding. One little slip here or there (but) we were able to make up for it."

None of the competition could match the Roush machine through NASCAR's Chase for the Nextel Cup, which by all estimations achieved its goal as the top-three drivers swapped race and championship positions throughout Sunday's 267-lap finale.

Busch made an emphatic statement for the championship by winning the Chase opener at New Hampshire International Speedway, and leading the final eight weeks of the playoffs.

"We started off the Chase with a win and we finished with a top-five and a pole," Busch said. "It's just unbelievable the way that Jimmy Fennig executed the whole program to give me the best racecars that I could possible drive and to give me equipment that would give me the position like we had today."

Jimmy Fennig Credit: Autostock

Busch began his run to the title from the seventh position, 30 points behind leader Jeff Gordon. In the end, Busch more than erased that by accruing bonus points. Busch was the only Chase driver to gain bonuses in nine of 10 races. He totaled 55 bonus points.

Johnson and Gordon failed to lead laps in four of the 10 Chase races, including the Ford 400. In Johnson's case, 10 of those bonus points would have made him the champion as he lost by eight markers.

Gordon fell only 16 points shy of winning his fifth career Cup title.

Not only did the New Hampshire victory give Busch a sweep of the events on the track this season, it got Busch's title hunt off on the right foot and proved their arsenal was ready.

Busch led 155 of 300 laps and was never in trouble, ending the day tied in the championship with Dale Earnhardt Jr., who had the lead based on more 2004 victories.

The championship next went to Dover, where Busch smoothly motored into fifth at the finish, led 12 laps and remained second in the standings -- but only one point behind -- as Gordon finished third to retake the lead from Dale Earnhardt Jr.

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Talladega was seen as one of the Chase's unpredictable "wild card" races, but it was no cause for worry in the Busch camp. Busch again finished fifth, led four laps and took the championship lead for the final time, then by 12 points over Talladega winner Earnhardt.

Race four at Kansas Speedway began a trying stretch for the champion. After averaging a ninth-place start in the first three Chase races, Busch qualified 22nd in the Banquet 400.

He spun once in the middle of a pack of traffic, but suffered no serious damage, ultimately led a lap and maintained his streak of completing every lap in the Chase on his way to a sixth-place finish. His championship lead was 29 points over Earnhardt.

Lowe's Motor Speedway proved the championship mettle of Busch the driver and his crew. Busch again struggled in qualifying, lining up 21st. His car suffered major damage in an opening lap melee in Turn 1; and later he had to drive through the infield grass on the frontstretch to avoid another accident.

But the result was a scrambling fourth-place finish, three more laps led and losing only five points in the standings, to lead Earnhardt by 24. It also cemented Busch's transition from a talented but hotheaded driver to a calculating championship contender.

"It's just a scenario to where I've seen things go wrong and tried to understand the best that I can and what I need to do as a driver to communicate to the team to be able to persevere and stay focused on the task at hand," Busch said. "Things are always magnified when you're in this position of driving for a championship.

"There are other teams that have bumps in the road as well and to be able to put forth an effort such as this in 10 races -- I had one smooth race, I believe and that was New Hampshire, and maybe Martinsville a little bit.

"But (the goal was) to go to each of the racetracks and to attack the racetrack for a win and nothing less -- one racetrack after the next."

Martinsville Speedway was a cause for concern among many of the Chase contenders, and looking at Busch's battered Ford after the race was proof. But the champion hammered his way to another fifth-place finish, led a race high 120 laps of 500 and again extended his lead to 96 points over Gordon.

Busch, Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon were battling for position all race long at Homestead. Credit: Autostock

Atlanta, while one of only three DNFs in 36 races this season, was without a doubt the low point of the year for Busch. After qualifying 22nd, he completed only 51 of 325 laps and finished 42nd.

But to his good fortune, all of Busch's main competition in the Chase also suffered misfortune; which caused his championship lead to shrink to only 59 points over Johnson.

While Phoenix continued the qualifying slump when Busch lined up 28th, the Checker Auto Parts 500 proved Roush's championship train was steaming again. Busch led 14 laps, finished 10th and left the "Valley of the Sun" with a 41-point edge over Gordon.

Darlington Raceway presented Busch and Fennig with perhaps their biggest challenge in terms of racecar balance in a Chase race. But when rain wiped out Bud Pole Qualifying, Busch took advantage to start first, lead early and then correct his car's handling.

The result was a car that was effective when it needed to be as Busch raced into sixth position, 18 points clear of Johnson and 21 ahead of Gordon. For the closest finale in history, Earnhardt was only 72 points back while Roush Racing teammate Mark Martin was in reach; 82 points behind.

All that was left was the finale of Ford Championship Weekend at Homestead. Busch stated an early case by winning his only Bud Pole of the season, only the third of his career and his first in two years.

He led the first lap and participated in a hard-fought battle with the emotionally motivated Johnson and Gordon that saw the trio positioned throughout the running order and constantly changing positions in the point standings.

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Under the circumstances, the pivotal moment in the Chase came on lap 92, when Busch felt something in the right front of his car, which caused it to slide up the banking and almost into the Turn 2 wall.

While bringing his car to pit road, the right front wheel completely broke off at the hub, dropping the car's right front to the pavement at the head of pit road.

Busch's luck was borne out by the wheel rolling out onto the frontstretch, thereby causing a caution to wave. Busch's car lurched, but missed the plastic barrels guarding the end of pit wall by inches.

"It was an odd problem that hasn't come up all year," Busch said. "We feel like we dodged a huge, huge, devastating proposition that would have taken us out of this championship and we pulled through."

Busch was able to pit and resume on the lead lap, though in 28th position. For the rest of the race, he made many visits to pit road and was troubled throughout by ill feelings in that corner of the car.

But in the end, Johnson's four victories in the last six Chase races did nothing to make up for the points he gave away in two Chase finishes worse than 32nd. Gordon had only one finish in the 30s, but two other mediocre runs put paid to his title hopes.

With the exception of Martin, none of the other championship contenders came close to matching Busch's calm consistency and level headed determination to win his second championship in NASCAR, to go with his 1999 Featherlite Southwest Series regional touring crown.

And it left Busch in position to celebrate his career turnaround, and his championship team.

"I'm completely exhausted about what these final 10 races meant," Busch said. "But it's a true testament to what a team has to do, to what a driver has to do, to what an owner sees as a leader and the way that you have to compete at your top level for 10 races against the 10 toughest competitors.

"That's what this season meant for us was these final 10 races because that's what the Nextel Chase for the Cup is now."