Kurt Bush dominates at NHIS
Chase lead tied by Earnhardt & Busch
By Cliff Maurand - Staff Writer
09/20/2004

Kurt Busch was well back in the stack of drivers competing for the Chase for the Championship, and took it to task on Sunday in New Hampshire. He dominated the race, led 155 of the 300 lap event, and won the race. For Busch this made for a complete New Hampshire sweep considering he won here earlier this year. It's also his third win of the season, and the 11th of his career.

Perhaps more important, is the points he accumulated toward the championship. He was far enough back from the leaders to have to make up some good points, which running the most laps and winning the race certainly played well into that. He is now tied with Dale Earnhardt Jr for the series points lead. They show Earnhardt officially in first place, as they break the tie by number of wins.

Finishing second for the day was another Roush car, defending series champion Matt Kenseth managed to bring it home second, and did so without ever leading a lap. Dale Earnhardt Jr finished third for the day, one of his better runs at NHIS. Rounding out the top five are two drivers just outside the top ten that are battling for the coveted 11th place in the standings, they were Kasey Kahne and Jamie McMurray. Completing the top ten across the finish line on Sunday were Joe Nemechek, Jeff Gordon, Elliott Sadler, Michael Waltrip, and Elliott Sadler.

While Busch may have moved from 7th in the standings to a tie with the leader, there were a few drivers that took a real deep shot in the opposite direction. Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman, and Jeremy Mayfield lost a lot of points to the leaders, falling over 124 points and more. For Newman, it was a case of motor problems that shortened his day.

Stewart and Mayfield can thank Robby Gordon for that, as Gordon got into Biffle early in the race, this sent the #16 car sailing up the track and into the side of Mayfields #19 car, meanwhile Stewart's attempt to dodge the whole situation didn't work, and he wound up T-Boning what ever was left of Biffles cars. This ended Stewarts day and caused enough problems with Mayfields car to cost him several laps. Newman wound up finishing 33rd, Mayfield finished 35th, and Stewart was mired back in 39th place.

As for Robby Gordon, he was penalized for 'Rough Driving' a couple of laps by NASCAR officals, and took away his 'Lucky Dog' dog pass that prevented him from getting his lap back, but that was little consolation to the two drivers he created problems for their efforts in the chase. Apparently there was some contact between the #31 and #16 before this, and it appears Gordon sought some kind of revenge, he was heard over his radio stating that he'd get Biffle back.

Other drivers in the chase that finished outside of the top ten are Jimmie Johnson who finished in 11th place, and Mark Martin who posted a 13th place finish. While Newman, Mayfield and Stewart are not necesarilly knocked out of the chase, the likelyhood they can make up over 100 points in the final 9 races against the leaders seems pretty unlikely. However, bad luck could still befall the other 7 drivers over the couse of the last nine races also, so anything can go here.

Next week...
That wraps up the first week of the Chase for the Championship. Big gains by a few, big loss for a few others. We'll see what happens next week when these guys meet at the other 1 mile oval, in the MBNA America 400 at the Monster Mile in Dover Delaware.

You can reach Cliff Maurand at: cmaurand@catchfence.com