Busch Wins Nextel Cup Championship

HOMESTEAD, Fla. Nov 21, 2004; Jenna Fryer writing for the AP reported that Kurt Busch struggled mightily with an oversized champagne bottle, trying with all his strength to pry the cork out and begin his NASCAR (news - web sites) championship celebration.

He tugged at it, and banged the bottle against the championship podium. Nothing worked. The cork wouldn't budge, and he eventually gave up.

It was the only obstacle Busch couldn't overcome in the Chase for the Nextel Cup Championship.

Busch wrapped up his first career title Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway the same way he raced for all 10 of the playoff races: He stayed calm at every speed bump — including a freak mishap when his wheel broke and his tire sailed off the car midway through the Ford 400.

"It's unbelievable to be able to put such an effort into what it takes to make a championship caliber team," Busch said. "Many things have to fall into place."

That they do, especially under a radically new format started this season and designed to add drama to what had become a series of lackluster championship battles.

With runaway winners the past few years, new NASCAR chairman Brian France began his first season at the helm by shaking up a points system that had been used for more than two decades. He put the title up for grabs among 10 drivers who had to compete over the final 10 events of the year.

The idea was to create a battle that came down to the final lap of the final race.

Boy, did he succeed.

Busch, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson jockeyed for position for every one of the 271 laps. Every spot was critical, every point furiously calculated by their car owners and crew chiefs.

When the race went into overtime because a late caution made it impossible to finish in the original 267 laps, everyone strapped in for what was sure to be a wild shootout to the end.

The contenders stacked up in a line, fender-to-fender, knowing what was at stake. Gordon was in third, Johnson was in fourth and Busch in fifth.

Busch's part was easy — stay out of trouble over the final four laps and the title was his.

Gordon and Johnson, who came into the race trailing Busch in the standings, knew they had to do much more: One of them needed to win the race to wrap up the title.

The field got the green flag, and the desperation was obvious in Gordon and Johnson, teammates and the closest of friends. Their Chevrolets darted to the bottom of the track, then back to the top, each looking for the tiniest bit of room to squeeze through. Johnson found a hole and skyrocketed past Gordon.

Neither of them saw Greg Biffle, Busch's teammate, race past them and steadily pull away.

With Biffle stealing the win they needed, and Busch staying pat in fifth place, the championship was over.

Busch, a 26-year-old Las Vegas native considered an outsider in the NASCAR world, drove off with the title.

"We beat the best of the best over 10 races, and to have my name along the best names in history, it means so much to me," Busch said.

An aggressive, talented driver in NASCAR's new wave of "young guns," Busch is a deserving champion, if not a popular one.

He made it to the top quickly, removing his training wheels early and skipping several steps along the way. It made him rough around the edges and his immaturity was evident many times.

Busch famously feuded with veteran driver Jimmy Spencer, and it boiled over last year when Spencer punched him in the face after a race in Michigan.

Spencer got suspended for one race, but Busch was labeled the villain.

He was criticized for baiting Spencer before the punch, lampooned for threatening to press assault charges and vilified for refusing to take any blame.

When he stepped out of the car in Victory Lane one week later at Bristol Motor Speedway, the boos were so loud and so menacing, it brought Busch to tears.

So he stopped talking so much, stopped being so candid and focused only on racing.

It was the perfect approach as he slipped into the playoffs under the radar, then turned it up over the stretch.

Nothing could stop him. Not a blown motor in Atlanta, not spinning out in Kansas, not wrecking in Charlotte, not even a wheel falling off in the biggest race of his life.

"This is what a team does to win a championship — they persevere," Busch said. "All year long, we've done things like this. Whether we put ourselves in a hole or whether we had a small problem."