 | | "I chose to go high and that was the wrong decision. I should have slowed up and went low," said Kurt Busch (97) who was trying to win his fourth straight spring race at Bristol. Credit: Autostock |
By B. Duane Cross, NASCAR.COM
April 4, 2005
03:06 PM EDT (19:06 GMT)
BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Kurt Busch entered Bristol fourth in points and as the winner of four of the past six races, including the past three spring events, at the .533-mile track.  | | |
| Food City 500 |
| Results |
| Pos. |
Driver |
Make |
| 1. |
K. Harvick |
Chevrolet |
| 2. |
E. Sadler |
Ford |
| 3. |
T. Stewart |
Chevrolet |
| 4. |
D. Earnhardt Jr. |
Chevrolet |
| 5. |
D. Jarrett |
Ford |
|
|
 |
He left the concrete velodrome without a victory -- and down three spots to seventh in points on the heels of a 35th-place finish -- after a head-on collision with Jeff Burton on Lap 362 that ended a disappointing weekend for the defending Nextel Cup Series champion. Busch spun out during practice Friday, then qualified 26th before crashing out Sunday. He failed to lead a lap and ran in the top 10 for only 54 laps before his day ended. It was the third time in five races -- and the second consecutive -- this season that Busch did not lead a lap. The last time Busch went more than two races without leading a lap were races 12-15 last year between Charlotte and Michigan. With only 138 laps remaining in the Food City 500 on Sunday, series points leader Jimmie Johnson bumped Burton, who was a lap down and battling the leaders to maintain position in hopes of a "Lucky Dog" pass in the event of a caution. Burton spun in Turn 3, remained at the top of the track and was facing oncoming traffic when Busch slammed into him. "The 31 [Burton] spun and I chose to go high," Busch said. "That was the wrong decision. I should have slowed up and went low. ... Wrong place at the wrong time. "The 31 got there from the 48 [Johnson] hitting him; just somebody being impatient. All the wrecks at the beginning of the race were happening back in the pack, now they're happening up front -- just people getting impatient. It's like Daytona. You saw a seven-car breakaway up front. We just had the 31 in there and the 48 got too impatient." From his vantage point, Burton said the wreck didn't have to happen. "Jimmie's a great driver and I know he didn't do it on purpose," said Burton, who finished 36th, "but you know I gave him a tremendous amount of respect. Instead of racing [the leaders] I just got out of their way. I raced the 16 [Greg Biffle], but once he got by me I just got out of the way. "[Johnson's] got to be better than that. He can't be doing that," Burton said of the contact that led to the spin. "I won't put up with it. ... I know he didn't do it on purpose, but we're responsible for driving these racecars and when something happens behind the wheel -- it's his fault. I won't tolerate a lot of that." Johnson went on to finish sixth, the 11th consecutive race in which he has finished in the top 10. Busch emerged unscathed, physically, from the crash, but was second-guessing his in-race strategy. "There were two big hits -- I hit the 31, launched and then hit the wall. It's not good to hit the wall in the air. Everything should be alright. All the safety harnesses, the Alpine Star safety equipment I use, helped me get through this. "It's just Bristol ... you can't think anything of it except we didn't make the right decisions. For me, I guess I wasn't aggressive enough. I was too patient and didn't get to the front quick enough, so we were just hanging out in seventh, eighth place. Bummer deal for us. We'll come back and beat 'em up in the Sharpie 500 [in August]." | 
