IS LEARNING THE PRINCETON OFFENSE
Busch entered the Chase for the Championship with a 30-point pad. Now, after one bad race, he has tumbled to eighth place. He goes into tomorrow's Cup race at Dover International Speedway trailing co-leaders Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson by 74 points.
Referring to his 34th place finish Sunday at New Hampshire, Busch said: "It was pretty devastating. The only thing we can do is put it behind us."
Earlier, Busch told the Associated Press, "I am highly frustrated. Everything in the regular season is now a waste. All that work we put in to win races and have an advantage in the Chase is gone and now we've got to play catchup."
The good news for Busch is that, with nine races left, it's possible to erase a 74-point deficit.
"Part of this sport is you're only as good as your last race," he said. "There's still next week. We've got plenty more opportunities to run strong."
Busch, 23, has had his share of outbursts during and after races. Yesterday, fellow Chaser Clint Bowyer described Busch as "a little bit of a time bomb." Busch knows he must maintain his poise.
"I can get riled up when things aren't going right, but then you lose a little focus," he said. "If you're mad at one guy, or a couple guys, then you're not doing your job right."
Busch and Greg Biffle, winner of the New Hampshire race, were among several Cup series drivers who visited wounded military veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. Busch said one veteran wearing a Dale Earnhardt Jr. T-shirt told him "I like Dale Jr." Smiling, Busch said, "I like him, too, sometimes."
Biffle also was clearly touched meeting the veterans.
"It's pretty overwhelming to see," Biffle said. "The sacrifices that those men and women have made is pretty incredible. A lot of them don't have legs anymore, a lot of them are missing one or more arms. And those guys want to go back and fight for our country.
"When you think you had a bad day, got stuck in traffic or you forgot the charger for your cell phone and you can't call anybody, to see what these guys have gone through puts into perspective what a bad day is for all of us."
Jeff Gordon, driving a Chevrolet, narrowly edged Mark Martin for the pole position for tomorrow's race with a 157.061-mph clocking. Martin's time, also in a Chevy, was 157.054 mph.
Gordon and Martin are tied for the most victories at Dover (four each) among full-time active drivers. Gordon hasn't won since 2001 at the "Monster Mile"; Martin's last Dover victory was 4 years ago.
Gordon is still winless this season. He's 11th in the Chase standings, 99 points off the lead. "Right now, it's about small victories for us," he said. "We're certainly not out of the championship."
Matt Kobyluck clinched his first NASCAR Camping World East Series title after finishing third in the Sunoco 150 yesterday. Aric Almirola, a part-time Sprint Cup Series driver, won the race in his first Camping World East Series start of the season. *
Send e-mail to fleiscb@phillynews.com.
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