Kyle Busch wound up 23rd Saturday night after crashing while running in the top five. Credit: Autostock

Busch's Darlington debut done in by tire troubles

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- The way Kyle Busch was driving the No. 5 Chevrolet on Saturday night, you could make the case that he was as much a contender as Ryan Newman, Greg Biffle or Kasey Kahne.

	KYLE BUSCH •   Driver Page •   2005 Stats

Unfortunately, Darlington Raceway can be a fickle place, and The Lady in Black jumped up and bit the young driver squarely in the right front tire.

"I had a heck of a run going with the car," Busch said. "It was really fun to drive that piece. We were just running along through there all night long, just biding our time and trying to keep the tires on the thing.

"I had a really good race car, and I was really excited that we were going to at least finish in the top five, or even had a shot to finish third through first.

"But I cut a tire down. I felt it going down the back straightaway pretty late, and I tried to whoa it up before I got to Turn 3, but there wasn't enough time. It killed the thing on the right side."

Victory LaneGreg Biffle celebrates his third win of the season Second placeJeff Gordon on his runner-up finish at Darlington Bumper TagWaltrip penalized after continuous beating and banging with Green Wall streetTravis Kvapil, Dale Jarrett and Scott Riggs tangle on Lap 242 Early troublesKurt Busch and Michael Waltrip wreck early at Darlington Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

Busch was running fourth on lap 275, and was sitting right there eight laps later when the tire went down. He clouted the Turn 3 wall hard, heavily damaging the car and stopping his charge cold.

Despite the damage, his crew fixed the damage and got him back out after losing just one lap. He soldiered on to a 23rd-place finish. Despite the misfortune, Busch was still the top-finishing rookie.

"It's a shame for all these guys," Busch said of his crew. "They work so hard, and we were good all weekend long. We had a good car all the way through the race, and it just killed it."

Since finishing second at Las Vegas behind his brother, Busch has had just one top-10 finish, an eighth at Phoenix two races back. But his performance overall has improved, something Busch was quick to point out.

"We've had great cars every race this year, and if we had just been able to show it and prove what we can do, we would have at least three or four top-10 finishes this year," he said. "We just haven't had the luck to prove that."

Kahne said after qualifying that a haircut helped change his luck around. But Busch couldn't claim the same lucky charm.

"I don't know what I have to do to change that around -- and I just had a haircut this week, so that isn't it," he said. "It's a shame, but we'll just keep digging, keep going after it.

"We had a real good test at Charlotte, and I always seem to run good at Richmond, especially last year, so we'll see if we can do it again."