Kurt response

Busch bangs his way to Victory Lane for first time

Kurt Busch climbed from his car after crossing the finish line to acknowledge the fans. AP

BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) -- Kurt Busch survived the usual bumping and banging at Bristol Motor Speedway, including the tap he put on Jimmy Spencer, to win his first career race.

Busch gambled on pit strategy and bumped Spencer out of his way Sunday to win the Food City 500, a race that ended with tempers flaring and a pit road confrontation between Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Robby Gordon.

"There's nothing better than the first one," said Busch, who got out of his car at the finish line, grabbed the checkered flag from an official and carried it around the track on his victory lap.

"It's just unreal. You never expect to win at Bristol, for your first one anyhow. You just don't feel like it's going to be your day at Bristol. You never know what can happen here."

Video Click the image to launch the clip Kurt Busch is ecstatic over his first career win. Start Video Plus Visit Video Plus for all the latest video and audio.

No, you don't, not on the high-banks of Bristol's .533-mile bullring, where the bumping and banging begins as soon as the race begins.

It led to 14 cautions and the usual post-race confrontations, including a verbal spar between Busch and Spencer over the decisive tap.

Busch opted not to follow leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. into the pits following the 13th caution, inheriting the lead with 85 laps to go. He briefly gave it up to Spencer, who moved in on Busch's bumper and muscled his way into the lead coming off Turn 4 on lap 444.

But in Turn 2 of the next lap, Busch fought back and bumped his way back into the lead. Spencer nearly lost control of his car on the contact, but saved it, although he lost a lot of ground in his bid to challenge for the lead.

"When racing for victories or top-fives, you have to respect the leaders," Spencer said. "When you don't, it will come back to haunt you. I didn't do that to him and he shouldn't have done it to me."

But Busch, who gave Roush Racing its second win of the year, claimed he was just getting back at Spencer for a similar incident last year.

"Last year at Phoenix, he dumped us flat out. He was a lapped car, and we were racing for eighth place," Busch said. "That was in my mind. He was the one that never forgets. I guess we can say I don't forget what happened in Phoenix."

Spencer finished second, Ricky Rudd was third and was followed by Earnhardt Jr. and Bobby Labonte.

Food City 500 Results Pos.  Driver  Make  1.  Kurt Busch  Ford  2  Jimmy Spencer  Dodge  3.  Ricky Rudd  Ford  4.  Dale Earnhardt Jr.  Chevrolet  5.  Bobby Labonte  Pontiac  Complete results, click here.

Matt Kenseth, who gave Roush its first victory this year, was sixth. Rookie Jimmie Johnson finished seventh, Jerry Nadeau -- his Hendrick Motorsports teammate -- was eighth, and Rusty Wallace and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top 10.

Earnhardt Jr. and Robby Gordon banged each other several times on the track and it boiled over on pit road after the race. Earnhardt made contact with Gordon as he grazed by him after the cars had come off the track and Gordon responded by spinning him out.

"He was a moving chicane," Earnhardt said. "He wouldn't get out of the way. A lap down, racing the leader with 10 laps to go. That's why it takes three or four times to get into the Winston Cup Series because he doesn't pay attention and don't know what he's doing."

Gordon said the bad feelings started early in the race when Earnahrdt bumped him, costing him 20 positions, and continued the rest of the way.

"I didn't quite understand why he did that so early in the race," Gordon said. "And I didn't understand why after the race, he ran into me, too," Gordon said. "I don't know what I did to make him mad, but hey, nobody runs into me."

Inside the Numbers Sterling Marlin in the last nine races Track  Finish  Homestead  5  Atlanta  2  New Hampshire  2  Daytona  8  Rockingham  2  Las Vegas  1  Atlanta  9  Darlington  1  Avg. finish past 8 races   3.75   Bristol  19

The post-race banging was similar to this race a year ago, when Tony Stewart put Jeff Gordon into a retaliatory spin on pit road following the event. Stewart drew a $10,000 fine and a long stint on probation for the act.

Both Earnhardt and Robby Gordon, as well as their car owners, were called to the NASCAR hauler after to talk it over.

It marked the second time Richard Childress, Gordon's car owner, was there. He was brought in before the race to discuss Harvick's physical confrontation with Greg Biffle following Saturday's Busch series race.

Busch, using a similar pit strategy to the one Elliott Sadler followed to win here a year ago, went 157 laps on his final set of tires. That gave him the lead on the restart and he only gave it up briefly to Spencer the one time.

"Everyone should have paid attention what Sadler did last year," Busch said. "We knew we could go along time on the tires."

Busch was holding on to his lead when the final yellow came out lap 478. That allowed Spencer to get up on Busch's rear bumper, but he never could catch him.

Stewart, injured in a wreck last week at Darlington, was unable to complete the race and had to turn his car over to relief driver Todd Bodine. Stewart had led 74 laps of the race and was running in third when he spun out and said he couldn't go on.

Bodine got in, came out in 21st place after the lengthy switch, and managed a 15th-place finish in the Pontiac.

 

Related information
Stories
Food City 500 Results Bristol Hard Charger: Kurt Busch Bristol Break of the Race: Jeff Gordon
Multimedia
Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video
Search our site	Watch CNN/SI 24 hours a day
	Sports Illustrated and CNN have combined to form a 24 hour sports news and information channel. To receive CNN/SI at your home call your cable operator or DirecTV.