 | | A decision to take four tires late paid off for Kyle Busch. Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images |
By Ryan Smithson, NASCAR.COM
November 14, 2005
03:28 PM EST (20:28 GMT)
Phoenix is a joy to watch crew chiefs earn their paychecks. Kyle Busch won Sunday's Checker Auto Parts 500 after taking four tires and Jeff Gordon finished third with just two tires. Busch won the race because a rash of cautions at the end enabled him to make up a ton of track position. He gained 10 positions when he didn't pit on Lap 230, and even though Biffle took four tires on the final stop, Busch was able to fight him off. Busch got two laps down in the middle of the event when he had to make a pit stop under green for a tire issue. He made up those laps by staying on the track (Lap 167 caution) and via the Lucky Dog (Lap 191 caution). He got the lead when he didn't pit on Lap 230, and when the caution flew 25 laps later, Busch was able to come in and get four tires. The key is that Busch restarted fifth. He was the first car that had taken four tires, and that was critical. "Coming down first gave us an opportunity to get four and be in front of the guys with four," said Alan Gustafson, crew chief of the No. 5 Chevrolet driven by Busch. "We were the first car with four tires." Gordon makes two tires work During the Lap 265 caution, Gordon restarted fourth after taking two tires. The first three cars (Scott Wimmer, Dave Blaney and Brian Vickers) did not pit. Only Wimmer ended up finishing on the lead lap. Gordon would have been tough to beat had he been able to restart in the lead because his car worked so well on two tires. "We had two tires there at the end. I needed to get clear of those guys ahead of me and I just couldn't do it," Gordon said. "Once those guys on four [new tires] got to me, I knew I was done. But I was surprised we were able to hold onto third. I thought [Tony] Stewart and those guys behind us were going to run us down." Stewart finished fourth. Kvapil gets 10th the hard way Crew chief Shane Wilson (No. 77) made a bold call by giving Travis Kvapil four tires during the Lap 265 caution. Kvapil started a lowly 30th, but his car handled well enough that Wilson didn't feel like it was necessary to use a two-tire stop to gain track position. Kvapil restarted 18th when the green flew with 52 laps to go, but the rookie picked up eight spots in the final laps. "After 10 or 15 laps the car would take off and we were as good as anybody out there," said Kvapil, who was the only Dodge in the top 10. Quotable "We were a solid top-five or top-10 car all day, we just had a bad deal on that lug nut there on that last pit stop and that put us to the back, I think 23rd or so."
-- Denny Hamlin, who overcame a spin and a bad pit stop to finish 13th. | 
