Notes: Junior drives for Kyle Busch down the stretch

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. didn't seem to mind that Kyle Busch rear-ended him and essentially ruined his chance to win the Samsung 500 on Sunday.

Sitting around the garage after finally giving up on repair efforts, Earnhardt was asked by a friend on Busch's crew if he would drive Busch's car. Turns out the crew had Busch's car ready to go again, but couldn't find him.

NASCAR rules permit such moves, and Earnhardt agreed. The gesture allowed Busch to finish one spot ahead of Jimmie Johnson in 37th. Earnhardt finished 36th.

Busch earned three points thanks to Earnhardt, although he did drop two spots in the points standings to seventh with 856, 280 behind leader Jeff Gordon.

"I could tell that it was a real nice car before we had the accident. Smooth steering, just smooth," Earnhardt said.

Busch went immediately to the garage when he slammed into the back of Earnhardt, who had hit the brakes trying to avoid a spinning Tony Stewart in front of him on Lap 253.

Earnhardt made several pit stops in an effort to repair the damage during the subsequent caution, but he surrendered not long after the restart. Earnhardt said he didn't care about the impact on the points. He dropped seven spots to 18th at 737, a whopping 399 behind Gordon.

Alan Gustafson, Busch's crew chief, said Busch thought they weren't planning to go back out and left the track.

"Junior didn't hesitate and agreed, and it was a very sportsmanlike gesture," Gustafson said. "It says a lot about Dale and the kind of person he is."

Earnhardt led 96 laps, second to Gordon's 173, and appeared to have the best car when the wreck knocked him out.

Montoya mash

Taking out Tony Raines is one thing. Taking out Stewart, Johnson and Earnhardt is something else entirely.

Celebrated NASCAR rookie Juan Pablo Montoya sideswiped Stewart, starting a chain of events that first sent Johnson to the garage and later indirectly led to Earnhardt being taken out of contention.

The trouble started on Lap 240 when Montoya, criticized for a wreck that hampered Raines' chances in the last race at Martinsville, slid up the track and into Stewart. Johnson had no choice but to run into Stewart during the resulting skid, badly damaging his front end.

Thirteen laps later, Stewart was desperately trying to stay on the lead lap when he lost control. This Stewart skid took out Earnhardt, who slowed quickly to avoid Stewart and was rear-ended hard by Busch.

Stewart ended up two laps down and finished 25th.

Montoya, the 2000 Indy 500 champion who made the rare switch from Formula One late last season, took eighth for his third top 10 finish in seven races.

"I tried to pass him three or four times, and he never gave me room," Montoya said. "I went in a little different and got really loose, and I don't know what happened."

Said Stewart, "If we'd have been the one to do that to someone else, we would be slandered in the media for life for doing it."

Still cooking

Mark Martin's racing did nothing to stop the suggestion he's so good he simply has to get back in a car full time.

After taking off two races and losing the points lead because of it, Martin returned and finished third. He's been in the top 10 in all five of his races, including four top five finishes.

Martin spent most of the race just outside the top 10, but shot up to third with a great pit stop after a caution on Lap 253. He's 11th in points despite skipping two races.

"It's fun to be back," Martin said. "I wish we could have been up there with my buddies scrappin' for it, but I'm satisfied with third."

Martin will race in the Car of Tomorrow for the first time next weekend in Phoenix, but he's sticking with his plan to remain semi-retired.

"I chased that cup, man," Martin said, referring to the Nextel Cup championship race. "I gave it my best. But now I'm enjoying just getting to race."

First-lap wipeout

It wasn't the earliest crash at Texas Motor Speedway - there was a wreck on the first turn of the first race 10 years ago -- but it was a quick one. Rookie David Ragan lost control and pushed J.J. Yeley into the wall near the end of the first lap, sending both to the garage.

Ricky Rudd and Casey Mears also got caught in the mess, with the back of Rudd's car sliding up the crumpled front of Ragan's car as both glided across the infield grass.

Ragan eventually came back out and finished 39th, but Yeley's day was done.

"I was on the outside, and to get taken out on the first lap is ridiculous," said Yeley, a second-year driver who was one spot ahead of Ragan in the points standings at 18th. "There's a little stupidity on his part."

Ragan said he didn't realize Yeley was right alongside him as he accelerated through Turn 4.

"I'm sorry I ruined his day and a lot of other guys," Ragan said. "I should have just backed out of it."

The infamous wreck on the first turn of the 1997 race took out 13 cars. It came after numerous complaints from drivers about what they considered a dangerous track, which was soon overhauled.

Robinson's tribute

Sunday's 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking baseball's color barrier was honored by the team for NASCAR's No. 42 of Montoya. The blue logo with Robinson's 42 used by baseball was displayed on the right rear of Montoya's car.

Team owner Chip Ganassi is a Pittsburgh native and former minority shareholder in baseball's Pirates.

"It is just a small way that we can honor the legacy of a great American hero on our own No. 42 car," Ganassi said.

Montoya is something of a trail blazer himself. The Colombian and 2000 Indy 500 winner is the only foreign-born full-time Nextel Cup driver after making the rare switch from Formula One last year.

No seconds yet

Troy Aikman, former Dallas Cowboys quarterback turned car owner knows his driver Raines could use a teammate. He said Hall of Fame Racing, co-owned by Roger Staubach, is seeking sponsorship for a second car.

"We understand that's the best way for us to compete at the level that we'd like to," Aikman said. "We don't want to get so far ahead of ourselves in trying to get another car that we don't take care of the car we've got."

Things are looking up for that car. Raines finished a season-high 13th in the first race since a wreck with Montoya ended what was his best day to that point, at Martinsville. Raines was running 11th when Montoya wrecked him at Martinsville and had to settle for 20th.

Raines sought out Montoya this weekend for a chat to discuss the incident.

"I'm glad if they're glad," Aikman said. "If that's what Tony felt needed to be done to kind of clear the air and allow them to just go out there and race better and not be distracted by some anger that he may still harbor, then I'm OK with that."

A special military-themed helmet that Raines wore Sunday raised $7,600 in a charity auction. The helmet was signed by Raines, Aikman, Staubach and helmet designer David Arrigo, who had a similar project for all the goalies at the NHL All-Star Game in Dallas this year.

No Texas Terry

The race was the first in Texas without Terry Labonte, a Corpus Christi native known on the circuit as "Texas Terry." The two-time NASCAR champion retired after the fall Texas race, the 848th of his career.

With Michael Waltrip not making the field, the list of drivers to run in every Texas race is down to seven: Jeff Burton, Gordon, Dale Jarrett, Bobby Labonte, Martin, Sterling Marlin and Ken Schrader. It was the 13th Texas race.

Labonte was the only of the 12 former winners not in the race.

Spark plugs

Samsung signed a two-year extension through 2009 to be title sponsor of the spring Texas race. O'Reilly agreed to a four-year deal through 2012 as title sponsor of the spring Busch race. ... Sunday's crowd was estimated at 191,000.