Balky carburetor flattens Busch
LOUDON, N.H. - There have been times when New Hampshire International Speedway has been a playground for Kurt Busch.
Busch, while running under the banner of Roush Racing, his previous employer, grabbed two checkered flags in a Nextel Cup car, first in the Siemens 300 in July 2004, then in the Sylvania 300 in September of that year, sweeping both NHIS events.
Before he graduated to NASCAR's top series, Busch claimed victory at Loudon while piloting a Roush truck in the thatlook.com 200 in July 2000.
But there have also been times when NHIS has bitten Busch.
Yesterday was one of those days.
The driver of the No. 2 Dodge started the race in third position after turning a qualifying lap of 130.011 miles per hour Friday. At the start of yesterday's Sylvania 300, Busch looked strong once more, running in a pack among the top five.
But halfway through the 300-lap race, Busch's engine started sputtering, sending the Avenger sliding toward the back of the field. Because of a problem with the carburetor, Busch never regained full power, saddling the Penske Racing driver with a 25th-place finish in the crucial first event of the Chase for the Nextel Cup Championship.
"We lost power," said Busch, who dropped into 12th place in the 12-man Chase, 102 points behind leaders Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon. "We tried to troubleshoot it the best that we could. It's kind of tough to accept this one. But we'll move on. Penske-Jasper gives us great power, good enough to sit on poles and win races. We just didn't need this to happen at this point."
Busch has been in this position before. In September 2005, Busch tangled with Scott Riggs early during the Sylvania 300, which was also the first race of that year's Chase. The incident caused enough damage to Busch's car (he was driving the No. 97 Ford at the time) that he limped home with a 38th-place finish, putting him in a deep hole from which he could never recover.
Yesterday, Busch and crew chief Pat Tryson initially believed they had lost a cylinder from the No. 2 car's V-8 engine, stripping him of the horsepower he needed to run with winner Clint Bowyer and the rest of the leaders.
During two caution periods, Busch pulled the Dodge onto pit road, where his team opened the hood to poke around the engine. They replaced a sparkplug, but the move wasn't enough to give Busch the required power.
Because of the carburetor issue, Busch fell a lap behind the leaders. He regained the lap later in the race, even climbing to as high as seventh place. But on Lap 260, with the tank of his Avenger nearly empty, Busch had to peel off to the pits to refuel, dropping him a lap behind the top runners once again.
"We were hoping for a caution," Tryson said. "We had a good-running car. It's a shame. We thought we had a top-five car."
This year didn't begin in the best fashion for Busch. He took 41st place in the season-opening Daytona 500 in February. In June, in the Autism Speaks 400 at Dover International Speedway, Busch finished 42d. That day, Busch rammed Tony Stewart on pit road in retaliation for an earlier incident, an infraction that cost him 100 points and put him on suspension.
But Busch found a connection with Tryson, also an ex-Roush employee (he was Greg Biffle's former crew chief). Tryson, who became Busch's crew chief July 1, turned out to be the piece the team needed. Before yesterday, in the 10 races Tryson has been atop the No. 2 team's pit box, Busch had earned seven top-10 finishes, including a pair of victories.
"With Tryson, that's the one element we needed to get us going," team owner Roger Penske said before yesterday's race. "We had the good equipment, we had the good cars, and Kurt can drive. But we just needed to pull the other pieces together."
Yesterday, Tryson remained positive, referring to defending champ Johnson's 39th-place showing in last year's Sylvania 300. "Jimmie Johnson," Tryson said, "didn't start off so hot last year, either."
Fluto Shinzawa can be reached at FShinzawa@globe.com.
