Busch rallies to win at California

He passes fellow young driver Jamie McMurray and pulls away late.

By Compiled from Times wires
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 28, 2003

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FONTANA, Calif. - Kurt Busch became the first two-time Winston Cup winner this season, passing Jamie McMurray 12 laps from the end to win Sunday's Auto Club 500 at California Speedway.

Busch, 24, regained the form he showed late last season, when he won three of the last five races.

Since winning last month at Bristol, Busch had slumped, finishing ninth in Texas, 19th in Talladega and 28th in Martinsville. But his win on the 2-mile oval gave the youngster five wins and three runner-up finishes in his past 15 starts.

"We went on a little slide. No biggie," Busch said of the previous three races. "We just struggled a little bit. Today, we put together a great effort."

Busch led briefly in the middle of the race and stayed close to the lead for most of the 250-lap event. Meanwhile, McMurray, Bobby Labonte and Rusty Wallace were trading the top spot most of the second half.

McMurray and Labonte, who swapped the lead several times late, were ahead of Busch when the last of eight caution flags came out after Dale Jarrett hit the wall to start a nine-car accident on Lap 230.

Busch and Wallace passed Labonte as they raced back to take the yellow.

On the second lap after the green flag waved on Lap 238, Wallace drove high and nearly got past McMurray and Busch. But Wallace's Ford slid up the banking and Busch drove past Wallace and Labonte to take the lead.

Labonte beat Wallace for second by a few feet and finished 2.294 seconds behind Busch's Roush Racing Ford.

Bill Elliott finished fourth, followed by McMurray, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip, John Andretti and series leader Matt Kenseth.

Kenseth, Busch's teammate, had his lead over Earnhardt cut from 51 to 44 points. Jeff Gordon, who was 11th, remained third in points with Busch moving from fifth to fourth.

A different driver had won in each of the first nine races.

Pole-sitter Steve Park slipped to fifth after taking the green flag for the start and suddenly veered right, knocking Ryan Newman hard into the wall and sending his own car spinning down the track. Both got back in the race but came in 40th and 42nd, respectively.

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