Busch on first race back: 'Ran out of tools'

Team pleased with top-five finish at Phoenix

RELATED: Full race results | Updated series standings

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Kurt Busch finished fifth, might have finished higher with a different pit strategy, according to his crew chief, and is already 33rd in points following Sunday’s CampingWorld.com 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.

It was the first start of the season for Busch, 36, since NASCAR lifted its indefinite suspension of the Stewart-Haas Racing driver this past week.
 
Busch drove his No. 41 Chevrolet as if he’d never been away.
 
“When they give you a driver like that, you’re automatically a top-five team,” said crew chief Tony Gibson.
 
Throughout the 312-lap Sprint Cup Series race, Busch rarely ran lower than 10th. At times, he seemed as fast as teammate and eventual race winner Kevin Harvick. Gibson’s call to pit during a late-race caution dropped his driver from stalking the race leader to playing catch-up.
 
“We were a second-place car,” Gibson said. “That one’s on me right there. I guess looking back I should have stayed out. But I figured more guys would come and take two (tires) knowing that at least the top five would probably stay (out).
 
“I’m proud of everybody on this team -- to go through what we’ve gone through and for Kurt to come back, first race back in the seat, he’s done a fantastic job.”
 
Harvick and Busch ran 1-2 following the seventh caution (on lap 227) and stayed that way for much of the remainder of the race -- until fellow SHR driver Tony Stewart got into the wall at lap 288 to bring out another yellow.
 
Gibson called Busch to pit road and restarted 10th, behind nine others who chose to stay out rather than pit.
 
“There were a few times I was determined enough to overdrive it,” Busch said. “Had a chance at the lead at one point racing Kevin side-by-side.
 
“But overall, as the race progressed, we got a little bit too loose … and I ran out of tools in the car to charge on that final restart. I was hoping to have a little bit better grip with the right-side tires. It just didn’t seem like we could grab the race track like we needed.”
 
NASCAR XFINITY Series driver Regan Smith piloted the team’s car in Busch’s absence, finishing 16th, 17th and 16th in starts at Daytona, Atlanta and Las Vegas.
 
As a result, the team is now ninth in owner points, which are separate from driver points. Gibson said he was appreciative of Smith’s assistance, noting “it was a huge learning curve for him.”
 
“We just stay strong. … I called (Kurt) every day,” he said. “Even when he was suspended, we talked every day. He was in our (team) debriefs. He’s a part of our team and I kept (telling him) the whole time, ‘you’re our driver, you’re our guy, this is your team.’ That’s been our mentality since Day One.”
 
Gene Haas, co-owner of SHR, said he believes Busch is “razor focused.”
 
“He appreciates driving at this level is a privilege,” Haas said. “It certainly isn’t anything he has a right to, or any of us have a right to. It can go away.
 
“It can go away just as fast as a car can go away in a race. He has a great appreciation for that.”
 
For now, Busch said, points are of little concern. While he made a big step in climbing his way up the ladder at PIR, there are still plenty of races ahead for the 2004 series champion.
 
“We'll see how the points play out,” he said. “But right now we're here to win some races. First step was to get our feet back underneath us, then we'll go for those wins.”

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