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Power Rankings: By staying on track, No. 1 Busch could have won again - Sprint Cup, NASCAR Sports News
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Power Rankings: By staying on track, No. 1 Busch could have won again

Updated June 30

It could have been, maybe even should have been, a different Busch in Victory Lane on Sunday.

Kyle Busch runs into trouble as Juan Pablo Montoya spins him out during a regrettable late pit stop. (Getty Images)  
Kyle Busch runs into trouble as Juan Pablo Montoya spins him out during a regrettable late pit stop. (Getty Images)  
Though it had been a rare off weekend for points leader Kyle Busch, who has already ripped off five Cup victories, a sixth had seemingly fallen into his lap Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway when the caution waved on Lap 273. While everybody in front of him needed to pit for fuel to reach the end of the race, crew chief Steve Addington had used a strategy earlier that had Busch good to go to the finish of the 301-lap event.

Inexplicably, Busch opted to pit as well.

"If we would have stayed out there then we could have won the race -- we could have been where the 2 (Kurt Busch) car was," Kyle Busch said. "I didn't feel like that was the way to win a race, just to stay out and play by the rain."

Considering how much track position meant Sunday -- and all season for that matter -- the move was dumbfounding, to say the least. His car was junk most of the day, so two tires weren't going to help him move forward a whole lot back in traffic -- and certainly not into the position he most likely would have finished in had he not pitted.

Well back in the pack after his pit stop, he got into a scrum with Juan Pablo Montoya, who sent him spinning as the final caution of the day waved, and he finished 25th after the race was halted on Lap 284.

"I didn't feel like we had a shot with the guys that were going to be behind us," Kyle Busch said of his reason for stopping. "We did what we did to try to pass some more cars."

Older brother Kurt was more than happy to snag the rain-shortened victory in what has otherwise been a rather dreary season. What's more is, had the race restarted, he might have been in big trouble; a brake hose had come loose.

"You know, I learned early on, before I even really made it up to the Cup level, that luck is definitely a player in racing," said Kurt Busch, who ended a 29-race winless skid.

"I think Richard Childress defined luck the best. He says, 'When preparation meets opportunity, that's luck.' And we were prepared today, and the opportunity presented itself to pit when we did. You have to have a fast enough car, a prepared car. So things came into play for us.

"It's something that's always been in the game. You've got to have strategy. You have to have a fast car. Where we are in points, we've got our backs up against the wall. So we gambled a little bit and it paid off."

Power Rankings after New Hampshire:

POWER RANKINGS
CurrentDriverPrevious
1Jimmie Johnson1
Even if Johnson were to finish last and Mark Martin were to win and lead the most laps in the next race at Texas, he would still hold the points lead by 23 points.
2Mark Martin2
There was a time when Martin had a bit of luck at Talladega. From 1988 through 2001 he had 18 top 10s in 28 races. In 12 races since 2002, he has just two top 10s with nine finishes outside the top 20.
3Jeff Gordon3
He has four victories in his past 12 trips to Talladega. However, he finished outside the top 10 in the eight races he did not win, with finishes of 19th or worse in his past four visits.
4Juan Pablo Montoya4
He captured second at Talladega in the spring of 2008, but has finished no better than 15th in his other five visits to the track.
5Tony Stewart5
Though he won last fall at Talladega, he has finished 22nd or worse in five of his last seven trips to the track with three DNFs by way of crash.
6Denny Hamlin6
He has led at least one lap in all eight of his visits to Talladega, but has just two top 10s to show for it with six finishes of 21st or worse.
7Kurt Busch7
He has three finishes of 21st or worse in his past four visits to Talladega after finishing outside the top 10 just three times in his first 14 trips.
8Kasey Kahne8
Sunday marked his second second-place finish at Talladega. In 12 starts at the track, those are his only top 10s.
9Ryan Newman9
His 36th-place finish Sunday was his sixth of 33rd or worse in 16 starts at Talladega. "We had this race back here in the spring and complained about cars getting airborne and now ironically I'm the guy that gets upside down," Newman said. "I wish NASCAR would do something. It was a boring race for the fans. That's not something anybody wants to see; at least I hope not. If they do, go home because you don't belong here."
10Kyle Busch10
His win in the spring of 2008 is his lone top 10 finish in 10 starts at Talladega.
11Carl Edwards11
After three consecutive top 10 finishes at Talladega between 2005-06, he has finished outside the top 10 in his past six trips to the track, but at least he wasn't flying into the catchfence like in his last visit.
12Matt Kenseth12
Like his Roush-Fenway Racing teammate Edwards, he had three consecutive top 10 finishes at Talladega between 2005-06, but has failed to finish in the top 10 at the track since.
13Greg Biffle13
Finished a Talladega career-best fourth on Sunday, his second consecutive top 10 at the track after finishing no better than 13th in his first 12 visits.
14Clint Bowyer14
He won't complain too much about a 12th-place finish considering he has finished 35th or worse in four of his eight visits.
15Kevin Harvick15
His 21st-place finish Sunday was his fifth consecutive finish of 20th or worse at Talladega. He has been running at the finish of all 18 of his starts at Talladega.
 
 

 
 
 
 
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