BUSCH TAKES ARCA CHARGE AT DAYTONA
By Don Radebaugh DAYTONA BEACH FL (2-7-04) Kyle Busch may have lost a lap early on, but quite fortunately for the entire Hendrick Motorsports crew, the eighteen-year-old NASCAR Busch-bound, ARCA RE/MAX Series driver never lost his cool later on. Busch, in the Ditech.com Chevrolet, rallied back from a pit stop violation and held off a four car pack in the end to win the wild Advance Discount Auto Parts ARCA 200 Saturday afternoon at Daytona Int'l Speedway. It was his third RE/MAX Series victory in his eighth attempt. "We were penalized for being over the wall without a helmet or whatever it was," said Busch. "I just told the crew that this car is the no. 8 of the ARCA Series. Now I know how Dale Earnhardt, Jr. feels, and Michael Waltrip too. I came here when I was eight years old just dreaming of someday being able to race at Daytona. A win your first time out; it's pretty amazing and a dream come true. It's definitely over all of the rest of the wins." Five-time series champion Frank Kimmel, right on the heels of Busch at the end, was again denied a Daytona victory as he crossed the finish line in second just. 128 seconds shy of the winner. "I don't think anybody was going to pass him (Busch)," said Kimmel. "He was awfully strong. He was pulling out; passing very good cars pretty much by himself. But it was a great day for the Advance Auto Parts car. At the same time, it's pretty frustrating (finishing second), but we've definitely improved our superspeedway program." Series regular Billy Venturini, who started 35th, won the battle for third, one that resulted in Shane Hmiel, Ryan Hemphill and Bobby Gerhart crashing together as they crossed the final stripe. Hmiel was already side-by-side and even-up with Venturini as they approached the checkered flag when Hemphill drove below the yellow line to make it a three-wide shoving match. When the smoke cleared, Hemphill, Hmiel and Gerhart would have to load wrecked racecars for the ride home while Venturini charged ahead nearly unscathed. Hmiel and Hemphill, broken and backwards, still finished fourth and fifth respectively while Gerhart was credited with sixth. Chad Blount, who took over the no. 64 Braun Racing Dodge when Deborah Renshaw walked off the job after qualifying the car in 15th, finished a solid seventh from the tail-end with Richard Childress Racing driver Clint Bowyer trailing in eighth. Rookies' Mike Langston and Jeff Kendall impressed all with respectable ninth and tenth place finishes. Gerhart, in the Lucas Oil Chevrolet, won the Pork Pole Award two days prior and led the first four laps before outside polesitter Busch powered by to lead. Busch led up through lap 18 before giving up the lead in favor of a pit stop. It was during this early stop that a Hendrick Motorsports crewmember went over the wall without an ARCA-required helmet and fire suit. Busch was brought back in by series officials and held for one lap while veteran Greg Sacks assumed the lead. Sacks led for 12 laps before he too gave it up for pit service under caution. Then Montello, Wisconsin driver Kendall, making his first series start, led five laps before Kimmel powered past. Meanwhile, Busch raced past Kimmel to get positioned on the tail-end of the lead lap while he waited for a caution to make up the 2.5-mile distance. He didn't wait long compliments of Dan Shaver who spun in turn four triggering a multi-car pile-up that included his teammate Ron Cox and top-contenders' Andy Hillenburg and Paul Menard. Cox eventually returned to competition with a wounded racecar but Hillenburg and Menard were through for the day. In addition to a couple more wrecks, one that took out Sacks in a scuffle with Brent Sherman on the backstretch, there were no injuries during five cautions for 32 laps. With Busch on the tail-end of the lead lap, the Las Vegas, Nevada native quickly put his Hendrick Motorsports power to work, passed the 20 cars still on the lead lap and disposed of Kimmel heading down the backstretch 20 laps shy of the finish. From there, Busch would not relinquish the lead while the lead-lap-pack shuffled two- and three-wide in his rear view mirror. Busch pocketed $33,385 for the top Daytona prize, which included the Gladiator GarageWorks Gladiator of the Race award. Kimmel picked up the Bennigan's Halfway Leader award while Jason Jarrett won the Hoosier Tire Hard Charger honors for advancing the most positions from a non-provisional starting position. Venturini, who had to take a provisional starting position for a rules infraction in qualifying, won the Thermo-Tec/Cool It Header Wrap award for finishing on the lead lap from the furthest back. The next event for the ARCA RE/MAX Series will be the PFG Lester 150 from Nashville Superspeedway on April 9 live on PEE Channel.