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Kyle Busch Has Another Promising Run

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The Associated Press

The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 27, 2008

HAMPTON, Ga. - While it didn't do him any good in the standings, Kyle Busch had another strong run Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway and hopes he might be able to salvage a win before the year is done.

Busch, the Sprint Cup points leader going into the 10-race playoff, dropped from contention when his season went south at the worst possible time. He started the Chase with finishes of 34th, 43rd and 28th, dropping him to last among the 12 drivers who qualified.

At least the No. 18 team shows signs of recapturing the form that made Busch look unbeatable earlier in the year. Busch was fourth at Charlotte two weeks ago, and followed it up with a fifth-place showing in the Pep Boys Auto 500.

"I'm happy with that, I guess," Busch said. "If we can keep finishing in the top five ... then the wins should come back our way."

Busch remains last in the Chase, 465 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson and 40 behind the next-lowest driver, Denny Hamlin.

"It's a good points day," Busch said. "We're not in the points anymore, so we're trying to get some wins. We have to run in the top five to contend for those."

After the race, NASCAR announced that it was taking the rear end of Busch's car back to the R&D center for further examination to make sure it conformed to the rules.

HOMETOWN FAVORITE: Bill Elliott didn't get much of a chance to shine for the home folks.

The Georgia native collided with Sam Hornish Jr. on the backstretch just three laps into the race. While Elliott was able to limp to the pits for repairs, he wound up nine laps behind in 38th place by the time his day was done.

The 1988 Cup champion was racing for the 18th time this season. Elliott missed in three other attempts to qualify for Woods Brothers Racing.

ANOTHER TRY: Joe Gibbs Racing will try yet again to get Joey Logano into one of its cars this season by sending him to Texas Motor Speedway next weekend.

Logano has tried three times to race the No. 02 car in the Sprint Cup Series, but all three qualifying sessions were washed out by rain.

In those situations, the 43-car field is determined by the points. Logano, a regular in the Nationwide Series this season, was left out each time.

"We're going to run Texas and there is a possibility that we will add some more to it," team president J.D. Gibbs said.

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