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NASCAR confiscates Kyle Busch's car following victory

Sep 30, 2007 - 3:01 AM By Bruce Martin PA SportsTicker Contributing Editor

KANSAS CITY, Kansas (Ticker) - Kyle Busch battled his way from the back of the pack after a pit-road violation to win a thrilling NASCAR Busch Yellow Transportation 300 at Kansas Speedway on Saturday, holding off Matt Kenseth's Ford by just .085 seconds.

But it was a penalty Saturday night that may have far-reaching implications for his crew chief and Busch's chances in the Nextel Cup "Chase for the Championship."

Hours after the race had ended, NASCAR officials announced they had confiscated the intake manifold on Busch's Chevrolet because it "did not meet NASCAR specifications."

Further penalties will be announced next week but it could adversely affect Busch's crew chief, Alan Gustafson, who is also the crew chief for Busch's Nextel Cup Chevrolet at Hendrick Motorsports.

Because an intake manifold violation is considered a major offense by NASCAR, Gustafson could be looking at a lengthy suspension, which would ban him from all NASCAR track activities in any series.

Neither Busch nor Gustafson could be reached for comment late Saturday night after the driver had won the second-closest Busch Series finish of the season.

Busch's victory in a Chevrolet was his third in the last six Busch races. He will be leaving Hendrick Motorsports at the end of this season to join Joe Gibbs Racing.

"We're still trying to win these races week in and week out," Busch said after the race. "It's going to be sad at the end. We have (learned to click), but there are friends elsewhere in this world. It was difficult to move from Las Vegas to North Carolina, but we made friends, and we'll do that when we leave."

It was Busch's third victory this season. He is the seventh different winner in as many Busch races at Kansas Speedway.

Carl Edwards, who crashed out of the race after lap 141, continues to lead the Busch Series points by a whopping 696 over David Reutimann. Edwards finished 38th.

Edwards was upset with his Roush Fenway teammate Kenseth for an earlier incident and mockingly clapped at him following the wreck.

"I don't really know, he was either really mad or cheering me on," Kenseth said of Edwards. "I don't know what his problem was, but he is obviously mad about something. I didn't know he was mad at me. We barely bumped there. If I was getting beat for the owner's championship by a couple guys running part-time, I wouldn't be racing four-wide.

"We just barely touched, and I guess that must have put a hole in his oil cooler and caused all of his problems."

Casey Mears was third in a Chevrolet, followed by Clint Bowyer's Chevy and Jamie McMurray's Ford.

There were a race-record 10 caution periods for 51 laps. There were 16 lead changes among eight drivers, with Busch able to come on strong at the end.

"We had a good car in the beginning. It wasn't great, but we kept making changed on it," Busch said. "I was hanging out in the beginning stages of the race and not wasting my stuff. I was able to stay out of trouble, stay on the bottom of the race track and pick them off from there."

On the final restart, Busch was able pick his lane and get by Kenseth. Once in front, he held the advantage.

"He went to the top side and I stayed on the bottom," Busch said. "I was able to block his air from there. I just didn't want another second-place finish to Matt Kenseth, for sure. I was able to do it even though he had a better race car.

"It was a good race at the end there with Matt. I thought he had a better car because he was up front for most of the day. The bottom of turns 3 and 4 got tight there at the end, and it should be the same tomorrow, so hopefully we learned something that will work tomorrow."

Kenseth enjoyed the race but didn't like the outcome.

"It stinks getting beat," Kenseth said. "I really enjoy racing against Kyle, he's a great driver, but I hate getting beat. It was fun battling by him."