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Kurt Busch Dominant at Subway Fresh 500

Written by John Davison · April 24, 2005

Defending NEXTEL Cup champion Kurt Busch continued the Roush and Hendrick domination of the 2005 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup season by leading 219 of the 312 laps in the Subway Fresh 500 Saturday evening at Phoenix International Raceway.


Busch held out over Michael Waltrip’s hard-charging second-place effort to take the second win of the weekend for Roush Racing after Greg Biffle came from the back of the pack to win Friday night’s Busch Series race for the team. “I didn’t know the car was going to be that good at the beginning, and then at the end it started to go away a little bit with an aggressive-type setup. It’s a branch from what we did at Loudon, New Hampshire, and right now we’ve got it rolling on these flat tracks,” said Busch after the race.

The race was slowed by nine caution flags for 43 laps after starting late due to rain in Phoenix. A brief red flag stopped the race at lap 142 when the track’s caution lights were knocked out by a power failure. The red flag lasted less than seven minutes before racing resumed. The lead changed hands 16 times among nine driver, with fifth-place finisher (and starter) Brian Vickers leading 50 laps, next best to Busch’s domination of the race. “It was great to get out there. We haven’t lead this year, so it was great to get out there and lead. And not only did we lead a lap, because a teammate helped us get there, but we stayed out front for a long time through some cautions and pit stops,” said Vickers. “I’m proud of the GMAC Chevy racing team. They did a great job and we got a good finish.”

The race finish saw Busch ahead of Waltrip by 2.315 seconds after averaging 102.707 mph for the 312 laps.

Jimmie Johnson held onto his point lead, while Busch jumped two positions into second. Greg Biffle fell to third, 25 points ahead of new fourth-place runner Jeff Gordon who was fifth last week. Elliott Sadler gained three positions to fifth, Mark Martin one to sit in sixth and Ryan Newman gained a pair of positions. Carl Edwards made the biggest gain of the top ten, leaping five spots to eights while Sterling Marlin lost three places and Rusty Wallace plummeted from third to tenth.

Unofficial finish, Subway Fresh 500
Fin Str Driver, Car, Laps, Pts/Bns, $ Won, Status, Times Led, Laps. Led
1, 2, Kurt Busch, No. 97 IRWIN Industrial Tools Ford, 312 laps, 190/10, $264,000, Running, 6, 219 laps
2, 28, Michael Waltrip, No. 15 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 312, 175/5, $181,939, Running, 2, 23
3, 20, Jeff Burton, No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet, 312, 165, $147,995, Running
4, 15, Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet, 312, 160, $150,018, Running
5, 5, Brian Vickers, No. 25 ditech.com/GMAC Chevrolet, 312, 160, 5, $110,325, Running, 2, 50
6, 4, Bobby Labonte, No. 18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet, 312, 150, $121,950, Running
7, 11, Carl Edwards, No. 99 Scotts Ford, 312, 146, $94,775, Running
8, 27, Kyle Busch#, No. 5 Kellogg’s Chevrolet, 312, 147, 5, $92,050, Running, 1, 8
9, 26, Johnny Sauter, No. 09 Miccosukee Resort Dodge, 312, 138, $75,750, Running
10, 13, Joe Nemechek, No. 01 U.S. Army Chevrolet, 312, 134, $103,158, Running
11, 33, Elliott Sadler, No. 38 M&M’s Ford, 312, 130, $109,141, Running
12, 1, Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet, 312, 132, 5, $120,886, Running, 1, 4
13, 8, Jeremy Mayfield, No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge, 312, 124, $98,245, Running
14, 7, Ryan Newman, No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge, 312, 121, $119,541, Running
15, 12, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, 312, 118, $113,066, Running
16, 22, Mark Martin, No. 6 Viagra Ford, 312, 115, $80,700, Running
17, 14, Kasey Kahne, No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge, 312, 112, $98,375, Running
18, 16, Scott Riggs, No. 10 CENTRIX Financial Chevrolet, 312, 114, 5, $90,133, Running, 1, 1
19, 10, Kevin Harvick, No. 29 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet, 312, 106, $109,011, Running
20, 23, Mike Bliss, No. 0 Net Zero Best Buy Chevrolet, 311, 103, $67,600, Running
21, 37, Jeff Green, No. 43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge, 311, 100, $94,261, Running
22, 25, Clint Bowyer, No. 33 Sylvania Chevrolet, 311, 97, $61,700, Running
23, 35, Dale Jarrett, No. 88 M&Ms/UPS Ford, 311, 94, $100,083, Running
24, 21, Dave Blaney, No. 07 Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet, 311, 91, $72,725, Running
25, 34, Jamie McMurray, No. 42 Home123 Dodge, 311, 88, $72,900, Running
26, 31, Sterling Marlin, No. 40 Coors Light Dodge, 311, 85, $92,183, Running
27, 42, Mike Wallace, No. 4 Lucas Oil Chevrolet, 310, 82, $64,050, Running
28, 29, Kevin Lepage, No. 37 R&J Racing Dodge, 310, 79, $60,925, Running
29, 18, Jason Leffler, No. 11 FedEx Express Chevrolet, 309, 76, $60,800, Running
30, 40, Stanton Barrett#, No. 92 TBA Chevrolet, 309, 73, $60,675, Running
31, 39, Kyle Petty, No. 45 Georgia-Pacific/Brawny Dodge, 306, 70, $78,208, Running
32, 36, Scott Wimmer, No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge, 305, 72, 5, $82,558, Running, 1, 1
33, 6, Tony Stewart, No. 20 The Home Depot Chevrolet, 305, 64, $109,561, Running
34, 38, Ricky Rudd, No. 21 U.S. Air Force/Motorcraft Ford, 293, 61, $87,364, Running
35, 19, Bobby Hamilton Jr., No. 32 Tide Chevrolet, 283, 58, $69,572, Running
36, 9, Rusty Wallace, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, 272, 55, $90,908, Running
37, 43, Robby Gordon, No. 7 Harrah’s Chevrolet, 262, 52, $59,750, Running
38, 30, Ken Schrader, No. 49 Schwan’s Home Service Dodge, 255, 54, 5, $59,625, Accident, 1, 4
39, 32, Casey Mears, No. 41 Target Dodge, 243, 46, $67,500, Running
40, 24, Travis Kvapil#, No. 77 Kodak/Jasper Eng. & Trans. Dodge, 237, 43, $67,350, Accident
41, 3, Greg Biffle, No. 16 National Guard/Subway Ford, 172, 45, 5, $77,510, Overheating, 1, 2
42, 17, Matt Kenseth, No. 17 DeWalt Power Tools Ford, 164, 37, $107,021, Accident
43, 41, Carl Long, No. 00 Buyer’s Choice Auto Warranty Chevrolet, 52, 34, $58,935, Engine
#: Rookie



Pos +/-Driver           Points Behind Starts Pole Wins Top 5 Top 10

1  — Jimmie Johnson     1260   —      8     0    1    5    7

2  +2 Kurt Busch         1087 -173      8     0    1    4    5

3  -1 Greg Biffle        1052 -208      8     0    2    3    5

4  +1 Jeff Gordon        1027 -233      8     1    2    3    3

5  +3 Elliott Sadler     1009 -251      8     1    0    1    4

6  +1 Mark Martin         997 -263      8     0    0    2    4

7  +2 Ryan Newman         994 -266      8     3    0    1    3

8  +5 Carl Edwards        979 -281      8     0    1    2    3

9  -3 Sterling Marlin     968 -292      8     0    0    1    3

10  -7 Rusty Wallace       960 -300      8     0    0    1    4

11  +1 Kevin Harvick       951 -309      8     0    1    2    3

12  +3 Dale Earnhardt Jr.  947 -313      8     0    0    3    4

13  -3 Dale Jarrett        947 -313      8     1    0    1    1

14  -3 Tony Stewart        913 -347      8     0    0    1    3

15  -1 Jamie McMurray      912 -348      8     0    0    2    2

16  — Jeremy Mayfield     904 -356      8     0    0    0    0

17  +3 Jeff Burton         879 -381      8     0    0    1    1

18  +6 Michael Waltrip     866 -394      8     0    0    1    3







		

			
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