Team Lowe’s Racing Comes Close at Nashville

LEBANON, Tenn. (June 13, 2004) – Kyle Busch and the No. 5 Team Lowe’s Racing crew seemed poised to score their third win of the 2004 season at Nashville Superspeedway on Saturday night. After leading 60 laps of the 200-mile NASCAR Busch Series race, Busch built a four-second lead over Jason Leffler in the closing laps. With four laps remaining in the 225-lap event, Busch noticed the needle of his fuel-pressure gauge on his No. 5 Lowe’s/Shop-Vac Chevrolet fluctuating, and saw his chance for the win disappear. Knowing he needed more fuel to make it to the end, Busch tried to duck onto pit road, but he was carrying too much speed as he exited Turn 4 and missed the entrance. Trying to make the best of the situation, Busch aimed to cut across the frontstretch field to get to the attention of his pit crew, but the ground was saturated from rain that had fallen earlier in the day. When his tires hit the slick grass, Busch spun out in the soggy infield, bringing out the caution flag. Even if Busch’s shortcut had allowed him to make it to pit road, the time he saved would have been for naught. Since he had already passed the designated “commitment line” at the end of pit road, Busch and his team were assessed a one-lap penalty. Busch and his Hendrick Motorsports team were credited with a 17th-place finish, two laps down to race winner Leffler. It was the first time the No. 5 team has finished outside the top-10 in the past 11 races. After the race, a disappointed Busch talked with reporters. “We ran out of gas going into the middle of (turns) three and four,” Busch said. “I looked down at the fuel gauge and saw it fluctuating and going down and I tried to make it to pit road. I just pulled a stupid move trying to make it, and there was no chance I would have made it. “Instead of coasting around one more lap and just getting fuel and not costing us one more extra lap, I messed up.” Still, Busch felt like he did everything he could to try to claim the win. “We had an awesome chance to get to Victory Lane,” Busch said. “We saved enough fuel at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in order to get there. I was saving as much fuel as I thought I needed to, but darn it, I guess I should have saved some more. “We did everything we needed to do, we just came up a few laps short.” Lance McGrew, crew chief for the No. 5 Team Lowe’s Racing crew, echoed his driver’s sentiments. “I told (Kyle) from the beginning of the run to conserve fuel, and he conserved as much as he could,” McGrew said. “It seems like once one thing goes bad, generally a hundred things go bad. “Still, we managed a 17th-place finish after all that, and we have a pretty good lead over third place in points. That’s just kind of how it goes. We’ll move on.” Starting the race from the third position, Busch remained in the top-five for most of the event. Prior to the team’s first pit stop, Busch told his crew that his car had a tight-handling condition. McGrew and the Hendrick Motorsports crew made several chassis and air-pressure adjustments to the No. 5 Chevrolet when Busch came to pit road on Lap 59, sending him back out in fourth position for the Lap 65 restart. While the changes did improve the car’s handling, Busch told McGrew more adjustments would be necessary on the next pit stop. That stop would not happen for several hours, as heavy thunderstorms forced NASCAR to put the event under the red flag on Lap 96. After waiting close to three hours for the storms to move through the area and for the track to be dried, NASCAR restarted the race around 12:15 a.m. ET Sunday. Busch brought his car to pit road on Lap 100, where his crew made more chassis and air-pressure adjustments to the No. 5 entry. The crew sent Busch back out in 10th position for the Lap 104 restart, behind several drivers who elected not to pit. Busch quickly worked his way toward the front of the field, taking over the fifth position from Martin Truex Jr. on Lap 127. Another caution flag on Lap 144 allowed Busch to pit for the final time, where his crew made more adjustments to its entry before sending Busch back out in fourth position for the Lap 150 restart. Busch took over the lead around Lap 162, and stayed at the point until his fuel problems cropped up with four laps remaining. “Overall, we had a good day and everybody knew we were here,” Busch said. “We’ve got a good car for Kentucky. We tested up there, so we’re excited to go there. “Hopefully, we can go up there and wear them out.” With the finish, Busch dropped to second in the Busch Series championship standings, just 45 points back of Truex. Busch and his No. 5 Team Lowe’s Racing crew will try to regain the points lead next weekend at Kentucky Speedway. The 300-mile Busch Series race will air live from that facility on Saturday, June 19 at 7:30 p.m. ET on FX and MRN Radio.