Sunoco Pit Move: Loudon

It wasn't the start to the Chase for the Nextel Cup that Kurt Busch and crew chief Pat Tryson wished for.

A promising afternoon in New Hampshire quickly turned into a disappointing one as the No. 2 Dodge team struggled with an engine that just wouldn't run at full speed. Busch dropped a lap to the leaders, got it back with the free pass only to lose it again late in the race on the way to a 25th-place finish.

"We had a strong car there in the beginning and then had a motor problem," Busch said. "A later diagnosis left us with a problem with our carburetor. It left us without the power that we needed."

But all things considered, Sunday's Sylvania 300 could have been much worse. With all 43 cars running at the end of the race, had Busch's issues been terminal, he would have been faced with a last-place finish -- and perhaps eliminated from the championship almost before it started.

If there was a race in the final 10 at which Busch expected to excel, it would have been New Hampshire, where he had won twice during his 2004 championship season.

Qualifying third, Busch moved to second behind eventual winner Clint Bowyer -- and despite losing a few positions as other teams gambled on two-tire stops early in the race -- was solidly in the top 10 when he first reported a lack of power around Lap 120.

Needing a caution to diagnose the issue, Busch could do nothing but watch the field pass him by -- including leader Bowyer.

Debris on the track at Lap 149 finally gave the No. 2 team the break it needed. First, Busch was issued the free pass, getting him back on the lead lap. Then the crew was able to open the hood and examine the engine, hoping for a loose spark plug wire.

Unfortunately, that didn't turn out to be the case, as the team later learned. Twenty laps later, the crew valiantly tried again, this time switching out spark plugs, hoping to correct the problem. Busch rejoined the race at the tail end of the lead lap cars and was unable to gain ground from that point forward.

Busch wound up being lapped by Bowyer again late in the race and was forced to settle for his first finish outside of the top 20 since the series' last visit to New Hampshire in July.

Still, Busch and his team remained upbeat about their chances for two reasons. First, Jimmie Johnson finished 39th at Loudon and still went on to win the title last season. Second, the worst-case scenario -- a catastrophic engine failure -- was avoided.

"It's kind of a bummer, but we worked hard to get in this Chase and we'll still work hard," Busch said. "This one is a big lump, but it didn't hurt us, so we'll see what happens."