Kurt Busch was hoping to make up significant ground at Watkins Glen. It didn't happen. Credit: AP

Perfect-starting weekend ends horribly for Busch

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- Kurt Busch's weekend started perfectly. It ended just the opposite.

After starting on the pole for both the Cup and Busch races at Watkins Glen, then winning on Saturday, Busch had the car to beat for the first half of Sunday's AMD at The Glen. His No. 2 Dodge led 31 of the first 54 laps.

Frustrated crew chief Roy McCauley Credit: AP

Official Results AMD at The Glen Pos. Driver Make 1. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 2. Tony Stewart Chevrolet 3. Jamie McMurray Ford 4. Robby Gordon Chevrolet 5. Carl Edwards Ford 6. Scott Pruett Dodge 7. Elliott Sadler Ford 8. Ryan Newman Dodge 9. Kyle Busch Chevrolet 10. Denny Hamlin Chevrolet • Complete results, click here • Official standings, click here Victory LaneHarvick celebrates his AMD at The Glen win SpinnersJeff Gordon and Dale Jr. stumble at The Glen Big wreckA pileup takes out several on Lap 61 Tough weekendBiffle crashes into guardrail, taking him out of contention CautionKyle Busch causes caution when tire goes flat Green flagStart troublesome for Kurt Busch and Sadler Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

Then a light came on and changed everything.

On Lap 54, Joe Nemechek went spinning into a tire barrier and brought out the race's sixth caution.

Busch was taking his machine onto pit road for a scheduled stop as the race leader, but with his car approaching the pit-road commitment line, the red lights to close pit road came on.

Busch continued past and made his stop, giving up the lead to Tony Stewart under the yellow. NASCAR penalized the No. 2 team, saying pit road was closed. NASCAR reviewed the call, but footage showed the car was within six feet of the line when the lights came on showing pit road was closed.

"There was no missing the commitment line," said a frustrated Busch, who wound up salvaging a 19th-place finish. "What happened was we put ourselves in position for NASCAR to make the call."

Busch was told to restart at the tail end of the longest line, but when the serpentine line of cars came off of Turn 11 to take the green flag, Busch was behind leader Reed Sorenson in second position.

Saying he couldn't hear his radio communication, Busch then pulled over and let the field drive by, falling to 40th position.

"That was us policing ourselves," Busch said. "Otherwise we would have been put to the back of the field. So instead of getting black-flagged, having to go all the way to the back of the field and then being half a lap behind, we policed ourselves."

Crew chief Roy McCauley tried to calm his driver down over the team's radio.

"Kurt, I don't know what to say, man," McCauley said. "We'll do all we can."

The rally lasted three laps.

Coming through S-turns, Busch was tailing Matt Kenseth when Dave Blaney checked up in front of them. Nobody had anywhere to go, and the accordion effect collected eight cars, Busch included.

His day from then on was shot. He got as high as 10th on the last lap, but spun just before Kevin Harvick took the checkered flag for the win.

"Each week it's a new call, and when you put yourself in position for them to make a call, they're not going to make it," Busch said, upset that the field was not frozen on the last-lap spin.

	Credit: Autostock
	BUSCH SERIES Kurt Busch held off road-course veteran Robby Gordon to win the Zippo 200 on Saturday at Watkins Glen International.  •   Complete story, click here

Asked if Sunday was his race to win, Busch quickly said, "It definitely was."

The roller coaster weekend didn't affect Busch in the standings, however, as he lost just six points on leader Jimmie Johnson and remains 13th.

Busch shocked the field on Friday by qualifying his Dodge nearly half a second quicker than anybody (1 mph faster). On Saturday, in what was supposed to be an effort to gain road-course experience, he won the pole for the Busch Series race then held off Robby Gordon in a fender-banging battle on the last lap to win the race.

On Sunday, he continued where he left off. Coming out of the first turn on the first lap, Busch took the corner too hot and slid deep into the turn. He lost the lead and dropped five positions.

It took him just eight laps to get it back, though, as he passed teammate Ryan Newman on the Lap 8 restart.

"The 2 car was obviously the class of the field," said Harvick's crew chief, Todd Berrier. "He was the class [Saturday]. If he had the track position, there's no way we could have beat him."