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NASCAR notes Date published: 6/4/2006
By JIM McCONNELL DOVER, Del.--When rain washed out Busch Series qualifying yesterday morning, Jeff Burton was left with a 36th-place starting position at a track where it's difficult to win from the rear of the field. Burton overcame the disadvantage by steadily working his way through traffic. But with 25 laps remaining in the Stonebridge Racing.com 200, it was questionable whether the South Boston native would ever be able to pass Kurt Busch. Running second, Burton pulled his No. 29 Chevrolet alongside Busch's Dodge six times coming off Turn 2 at Dover International Speedway. Busch refused to yield, however, and had just enough speed to keep Burton behind him. Finally, Burton slipped past Busch with 18 laps remaining, then held a charging Carl Edwards at bay long enough to secure his 22nd career Busch victory. Kurt Busch finished third, followed by Clint Bowyer and Ron Hornaday Jr. "The race at the end was a lot of fun. It doesn't get much better than that," said Burton, who snapped a four-year Busch winless streak earlier this season at Atlanta. "[The car] was way loose and Kurt [Busch] came flying up there on the outside. I just had to wait and wait until it got tightened up for me. I'm glad it finally did." Burton posted the biggest come-from-behind victory ever in a Busch race at Dover. Scott Wimmer had held the record after charging from 26th place to win in 2002. More remarkably, Burton managed to get it done on old tires. During a caution on Lap 151, most lead-lap cars pitted for new tires. Edwards was one of them; Burton wasn't. But while Edwards was able to pass Busch for second place without much trouble, his fresher tires made no difference in his pursuit of a streaking Burton. "The car was fast all day," Burton said. "On long runs, we were unbelievably good." Painful lessonFor the second time this week, budding superstar Kyle Busch expressed remorse for his latest on-track transgression. It came seven days too late to save him from a $50,000 fine. But Busch was more concerned about the 25 Nextel Cup points he lost after tossing his HANS device at Casey Mears' car late in last Sunday's Coca-Cola 600.
Date published: 6/4/2006
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