Notes: Mears' hard-luck tour continues at Talladega (cont'd)

A repeat performance came Sunday during the Aaron's 499. Busch took a hard lick again when Johnson drifted up the track and pushed Ricky Rudd into the wall. Busch and Joe Nemechek slammed hard into the inside wall. Jeff Burton and Martin Truex Jr. were also caught up in the crash.

A mob of media chased Busch down on the way to his motorhome, but a crew member said Busch was too angry to talk and went around the care center to avoid the media.

The young driver's frustration is mounting, but team owner Rick Hendrick is trying to keep his emotions in check.

"Jeff [Gordon] has talk to him, I've talked to him. He likes to run flat out and he likes to lead and that's part of it and that's his personality. I think he's done well this year and I'm glad he wasn't hurt this weekend. It speaks a lot to the safety."

Debris Caution: Beer cans not the right brand

After Jeff Gordon's 77th win on the late Dale Earnhardt's birthday, a hailstorm of beers cans came flying from the grandstands pelting the No. 24 car.

Kurt Busch on fans littering the track with beer cans aimed at Gordon who surpassed the late Earnhardt's record: "It's very unfortunate to see fans throw Miller Lite beer cans on the track."

Drivers in the top 10 take a hit

Clint Bowyer and David Stremme made contact early in the race sending Bowyer into the wall, damaging the right front fender which later cut the right front tire sending him into the wall for a second time.

Bowyer returned to the track with about 59 laps to go, but his 35th-place finish dropped him two spots in the standings to 11th.

Carl Edwards dropped four places to 12th in the standings after engine failure took the No 99 driver out of the race 85 laps in.

"What happened was in practice we had a little bit of trouble and we thought we got it fixed but then it looks like something else showed up there," Edwards said. "One of the valves is broke. We don't know if the spring broke first or the valve broke first, but it tore up the engine real bad. I tried to shut it off as early as I could, but they say it's junk."

Break-out performance

For the first time since the season opener in Daytona, Kasey Kahne, the driver with the most wins last season, cracked the top 15. Kahne finished 12th and led laps for the first time since Las Vegas in Sunday's Aaron's 499.

Kahne said, "It felt good today. We led some laps. That's the best we've finished in a while and it felt good."