Kurt Busch takes Texas
FORT WORTH, Texas - Jimmie Johnson's drive to history took a hard hit against a wall and Kyle Busch ran out of gas trying to complete an unprecedented NASCAR trifecta.
Kurt Busch drove to Victory Lane at Texas yesterday after his younger brother ran out of fuel with 2 1/2 laps left, finishing 129 laps ahead of the rebuilt car driven by Johnson, who saw his points lead slashed from 184 to 73 over Hendrick teammate Mark Martin with two races left.
"It was definitely not the day we wanted," Johnson said. "It's not as bad as it could have been. At one point I was told to hop out of the car and I was done . . . It's still a big ouch."
Johnson, the series points leader trying to become the first Sprint Cup driver to win four consecutive season championships, wrecked on the third lap when he was knocked into the wall by Sam Hornish. Johnson finished 38th after his crew needed more than an hour to repair and basically rebuild his No. 48 Chevrolet.
Kurt Busch got his second victory of the season in the No. 2 Dodge, winning by a nearly 26-second margin over second-place Denny Hamlin. Matt Kenseth was third.
Kyle Busch, who had already won the Nationwide and Camping World Truck races at Texas, failed in his bid to become the first driver to win in all three of NASCAR's national series on the same weekend. He had trouble refiring his car after his splash and dash stop and wound up 11th.
