Kurt Busch Completes Charlotte Sweep

May 31st, 2010

CONCORD, N.C. — Kurt Busch had never finished in the top 10 in 10 points-paying starts at Charlotte Motor Speedway before Sunday night.

The 2003 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion led 252 of 400 laps in his Miller Lite Dodge and put paid to that statistic by winning the Coca-Cola 600. He joins six other drivers as the only ones to win both the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race and the Coca-Cola 600 on consecutive weeks.

“It’s unbelievable how much this is a team effort,” an ebullient Busch said in Victory Lane. “Steve Addington is brilliant, and everybody pulls the rope in the same direction. It’s unbelievable to have a car that sticks that good.”

Busch’s victory over a closing Jamie McMurray kept McMurray’s team owner Chip Ganassi from pulling off an historic Memorial Day double after Dario Franchitti won his second Indianapolis 500 earlier in the day.

“I went all the way around our All-Star setup, and I thought that was the best car at night,” Busch said. “Whatever struggles we would have during the day, we would deal with. The car was good during the day, and I was scared, all race long, that it was going to dominate the first part and then lose it toward the end.

“McMurray kept us honest all day long, I’ll give him that, but when things go your way…we needed a caution and we got it. It’s amazing when the good Lord blesses you like this.”

Busch beat McMurray off pit road on the final pit stop with 24 laps to go, and that was that. Marcos Ambrose smacked the wall on the back straightaway to bring out the last of eight caution flags, setting up the final restart.

McMurray, this year’s Daytona 500 winner, followed Busch past Jeff Gordon, who stayed out for the final restart and was closing quickly over the final circuits, but ran out of laps and had to settle for second. His Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet needed about five more laps before it came in, and Busch was able to keep him at bay.

“We had a great car, but it took us 25 or 30 laps to be able to catch Kurt and 10 more to be able to pass him,” McMurray said. “Had a great night and a great car, but track position was key, and when he got out in front of us on that last pit stop and some of those guys stayed out, it was hard to get back around them.

“It’s disappointing, but from where I was last year, to have the runs we have had this year, it’s a really good time to be a part of Chip Ganassi Racing. I’m disappointed to finish second but I’ll take it.”

Kyle Busch overcame a pit-road collision with Brad Keselowski that caved in the right front of his M&M’S Toyota to finish a closing third, despite some harsh words from a fellow competitor.

“Dave Rogers did a phenomenal job of giving me a car that I could get back through the field with like that,” Kyle Busch said. “We were really off when I made contact on pit road.”

Busch survived a few scrapes on the track, including one on the final restart that ended up earning him a tongue-lashing from Jeff Burton.

Jimmie Johnson, usually a threat to win anytime he races at CMS, crashed hard and finished 37th, dropping three spots in the points to seventh, 204 behind point leader Kevin Harvick.

Johnson got way loose off turn two and brushed the outside wall, then pounded the inside wall on lap 272. The car appeared to be finished for the night, but Chad Knaus and crew put it back together and got him back out for points.

“We’re just racing,” a befuddled Johnson said afterward. “We’ve had some bad luck and made some mistakes. I’ll be back next week.”

Interestingly, no Hendrick Motorsports car has won since NASCAR changed from the wing to the spoiler.

Mark Martin came from nowhere to finish fourth, followed by defending 600 champ David Reutimann. Jeff Gordon was sixth, followed by Clint Bowyer, Paul Menard as the first Ford, polesitter Ryan Newman and Matt Kenseth.

Harvick was 11th and leads Kyle Busch by 29 points heading to Pocono next week.