Minor wreck knocks Busch from contention

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Kurt Busch's first run in the Daytona 500 was better than the 22-year-old could have imagined.

And worse.

The Las Vegas native ran up front for much of the race, getting his Roush Racing Ford Taurus as high as second place at one point, before a rookie mistake led to contact with another car 157 laps into the 200-lap race.

Busch was not injured in the incident, but he was forced to the garage area for 31 laps while his crew made repairs to the car's damaged front end. The Durango High graduate finished 41st in the 43-car field.

"This was my only chance to be a rookie in the Daytona 500 and I just came up a little short," Busch said after the race. "We did have a good car ... I just made one bad decision."

The decision that took Busch out of contention came on lap 157 as he was exiting Turn 4 at Daytona International Speedway. Busch was running low on the track and was attempting to pass Joe Nemechek when Busch's car hit Nemechek's and then the outside wall before sliding across the track and coming to rest in the infield.

"I committed to the low side in turn three and I knew the leaders were going to hang me out on the bottom there," Busch said. "I kept seeing the 33 car (Nemechek) getting smaller and smaller in the (rearview) mirror ... I thought I was clear high and that's where I went.

"I just made the decision that I thought I was clear -- the spotter said I was clear -- and it ended up causing a wreck and it's not good to do that. It's a tough one to swallow."

Prior to the incident, Busch seemingly could drive his No. 97 Ford to the front at will.

"We could go anywhere," Busch said. "We were able to pull up to the front any time we needed. We got shuffled back a few times but we got back up to the front and then we made that one mistake and it put an end to that."

Team owner Jack Roush said he was pleased with Busch's performance.

"Kurt did great today; he did just super," Roush said. "I don't know if he had the strongest Ford out there, but certainly he was driving it with great enthusiasm."

Roush attributed Busch's wreck to the team's inexperience; Busch was making only his eighth NASCAR Winston Cup start Sunday.

"A rookie spotter and a rookie driver -- they just didn't have enough room and went on and tried to take something on the racetrack that wasn't theirs and he got wrecked," Roush said. "That (inexperience) could have been a factor in this."

Busch's inexperience on the Winston Cup circuit didn't show in the first three-quarters of the race. In fact, Busch said the 500 reminded him of a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race and he easily adapted to his first restrictor-plate race.

"This was more like a truck race -- something where I fit in more with the bigger draft and side-by-side packs," said Busch, who was the NCTS Rookie of the Year last season.

"I was just trying to find the biggest hole and hang out for a while and right there at the end, everybody got their fresh tires, they knew it was the last time they had to start and everybody was going to start getting dicey.

"It just ended too short for us."

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