Martinsville Gives Kyle Busch The Cold Shoulder
MARTINSVILLE, VA (March 30, 2008) – Kyle Busch entered the field for the Goody’s Cool Orange 500 at the Martinsville Speedway this Sunday as the Sprint Cup Series points leader. He and his No. 18 M&M’S crew were celebrating an early season with plenty of highs. But the 0.526-mile oval struck a small blow to the team’s hunt for series supremacy. Busch struggled with an ill-handling Toyota all day. A broken rear end gear past the halfway mark forced Busch several laps down. He would return to the track to finish 38th, a result that forced him to relinquish his previous points lead.
“I’m glad this weekend’s over,” Busch said after the race. “We just couldn’t get our M&M’S Camry to hook up all day long. If I wasn’t plowing through the middle of the corner, then I was loose on exit. And most of the day I was both. For some reason our brakes just weren’t good either. So I wasn’t able to be as aggressive as I like to be. I know my guys worked real hard to give me what I wanted with the car, but it was just a real frustrating day. We’ll just try to get back on track next week in Texas.”
Coming into the weekend, forecasts were calling for very little precipitation and temperatures in the 60s. However, as the weekend arrived, Mother Nature had a different plan. Race day temps were bitter cold, with a constant mist that made it tough for everyone on pit road to get comfortable. The track managed to stay dry enough though and the racing action was never halted.
Busch started the race on the outside of row four in the eighth position. He immediately found an opening inside and dropped to the bottom groove. He picked up several spots early on to jump into the top three. But shortly after, he was forced back outside and experienced the dreaded “freight train” of cars on the inside that dropped him outside the top 10. On lap 20, Busch’s car spun around due to contact with his brother, Kurt. He was able to straighten up immediately and keep his momentum going to maintain his position.
Busch was complaining of a very tight condition at that stage of the race. The pit stop that ensued saw the M&M’S crew make several adjustments, including decreasing the air pressure in the rear tires and removing all the spring rubbers out of the right rear. The additional time on pit road dropped Busch back to 27th for the restart. It took him nearly 100 laps to fight his way back into the top10. From there, he fought with an awkward balance in the car and began to consistently lose track position before flirting with the outskirts of the top 20 at the halfway point in the race.
Just after halfway, Busch was running in 18th when he suddenly lost power. He immediately radioed in that he thought he broke the rear end gear. The problem was severe enough that he had to pull into the garage for lengthy repairs. The crew worked extremely hard to replace the rear end gear with a new one and get their driver back out to the track.
The No. 18 M&M’S Toyota Camry pulled back onto the track at lap 340 in the 43rd position. For the remainder of the race, Busch used his time on the track to continue to offer feedback to his crew chief and engineers on the handling of the car in hopes of collecting useful data for their return visit to Martinsville in the fall. Busch was able to gain five positions throughout the final 160 laps to finish in 38th. The result dropped him to fifth in the points standings, 84 points behind new leader, Jeff Burton.
Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Denny Hamlin, improved on his second-place starting position and brought home the famous grandfather clock trophy by winning the Goody’s Cool Orange 500. It was his first win of the season and the fourth of his career. Tony Stewart earned a fifth-place finish, his third top-five of the season.
Behind Hamlin’s first-place result was polesitter Jeff Gordon coming home in second. Jeff Burton finished third and consequently took over the points lead. Jimmie Johnson earned a fourth-place finish, while Tony Stewart rounded out the top five.
Next week Kyle Busch and his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Team will travel to the Texas Motor Speedway for the Samsung 500 on Sunday, April 6. Television coverage provided by the FOX television network will begin at 1:30pm EDT. Radio coverage can be heard at the same time on the Performance Racing Network (PRN).
