Trouble on pit road might have cost Kyle Busch a top-10 finish or better. Credit: Autostock

Pit road trouble dooms Busch to 12th-place run

HAMPTON, Ga. -- Sunday's Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 was far from a passing fancy for Nextel Cup's leading rookie of the year candidate Kyle Busch, who was convinced he had a far better car than his 12th-place finish showed.

In fact, a NASCAR accusation of fancy passing and the resultant penalty doomed Busch, he said.

Inside the Chase Standings after Atlanta Pos. Driver Pts. Behind 1. T. Stewart 6,100 -- 2. J. Johnson 6,057 -43 3. G. Biffle 6,025 -75 4. C. Edwards 5,993 -107 5. R. Newman 5,993 -107 • Race Results, click here • Point Standings, click here • Lap-by-Lap, click here Final lapsEdwards cruises to the checkers to complete the AMS sweep Top finishersDale Jr. and Jeff Gordon talk about their finishes Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500Catch all the racing highlights from Atlanta Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

"It wasn't what we deserved," Busch said of his finish. "We were penalized by NASCAR once again."

Busch referred to a tail-end-of-the-longest-line penalty that was levied when his No. 5 Chevrolet was forced out into the grass on the outside of pit road during a set of yellow flag pit stops.

"I got run out in the grass so I held my position and they called me for passing so I'm pretty disappointed in that," Busch said. "We had a strong enough car where we probably could have been in the top five."

He might've been right. Busch started seventh and was into second position by Lap 80. He led four laps under green in between a trio of accident-related cautions between Laps 123 and 163.

It was the 18th time in nine races this season Busch has led, for a total of 299 laps.

According to crew chief Alan Gustafson, the penalty was not the only problem Busch had on pit road. But the penalty was the coup de gras as, after he went to the back, Busch damaged his car's fender scuffing the wall so he was lucky to end up 12th, which matched his finish in Atlanta's spring race.

"I think we had a car early on in the race that could contend to win," Gustafson said. "We led the race and came in and had a little bit of a pit stop problem and went to sixth.

"We kind of worked our way back up there and had a real good pit stop rolling out and I never saw what happened to the 16 [Greg Biffle] on tape.

"I don't see where we're at fault for that -- but we went to the back and knocked the fender in and I think when we went to the back we didn't keep up with the racetrack, the car got away from us a little bit and we ended up 12th.

"You kind of judge your day on how you were and I think we finished worse than we were. Those are never good days, but at least it was only a 12th."

Busch said the penalty and resultant poor track position was his doomsday sentence.

"We just got mired back in traffic," Busch said. "It's terrible to try to pass out there. It's definitely a good racetrack and good racing, but it was hard to pass. You could pass a bunch of guys in the beginning, but then you use all your stuff up and they come right back at you."

His disappointment aside, Busch -- who won his third Craftsman Truck Series race of the season Saturday -- further cemented his position atop the Nextel Cup rookie standings.

Second-place rookie Travis Kvapil finished 26th on Sunday and Busch, who was the top-finishing rookie for the 22nd time in 33 races, extended his lead to 304-227 on Kvapil.