Busch loves win, not futuristic car

Third-place finisher Jeff Gordon took over the points lead from absent Mark Martin.
SPORTING NEWS NASCAR WIRE SERVICE
BRISTOL, Tenn. -- The sky didn't fall.
The earth didn't stand still.
The four horsemen of the apocalypse didn't come galloping into Bristol Motor Speedway Sunday afternoon.
And Kyle Busch won a dramatic Nextel Cup race in Thunder Valley as NASCAR took its top series into the unknown -- the competitive debut of the controversial Car of Tomorrow.
Runner-up Jeff Burton could have knocked Busch out of the way in Turns 3 and 4 of the last lap of a green-white-checkered flag finish that sent the Food City 500 four laps beyond its posted distance.
Clean finish
But Burton raced his fellow Chevy driver cleanly through the corner and trailed Busch to the finish line by .064 seconds in a race slowed by 15 cautions for a total of 90 laps.
Burton passed third-place finisher Jeff Gordon on the outside after the final restart on Lap 503. Kevin Harvick came from 40th starting position to run fourth, and Greg Biffle came home fifth.
Winning his first Cup race of the season and the fourth of his career, however, didn't cure Busch of his distaste for the COT.
"I'm still not a big fan of these things," Busch said after climbing from the car. "I can't stand to drive them. They suck."
Dave Blaney of Hartford finished the race in 23rd position.
On the other hand, Busch did appreciate the courteous treatment he received from both Burton and Gordon, who had taken on fresh tires while Busch, Denny Hamlin and Biffle had stayed on the track before the next-to-last restart on Lap 492.
Busch thinks the respect he got from Burton might have stemmed from the Busch Series race at Las Vegas two weeks ago, when their roles were reversed. Burton won with a last-lap pass while Busch spun across the finish line in second place.
"Without Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton behind me, I never would have won the race," Busch said. "I have to thank those guys. Jeff [Gordon] gave me a break going into [Turn 1]. Burton could dumped me in [Turns] 3 and 4.
IOU helpful
"But I think our Vegas finish helped me out. I had brownie points to use up, and I used them up in one spot right there."
Though the bump-and-run has been a common occurrence at Bristol in the past, Burton exercised considerable restraint in his handling of the final lap.
"I wanted to win the race really badly, obviously," he said, "but I wasn't going to knock him out of the way to win."
The win was the 200th for Hendrick Motorsports, counting all victories in NASCAR's top three series, and it was the 600th all-time for carmaker Chevrolet.
Gordon and Burton were closing on Busch with less than three laps to go in regulation when David Ragan spun on the frontstretch and brought out the 15th caution.
A variety of problems beset the race's top qualifiers. Gordon, the polesitter, fought handling problems for more than half the race and made nine pit stops during the race's first nine caution periods. A spin in Turn 4 cost fellow front-row starter Kasey Kahne three laps.
Hard-luck drivers
A loose wheel forced third-place qualifier Elliott Sadler to the pits for a green-flag stop at the halfway point, costing the driver of the No. 19 Dodge four laps. No one, however, could complain of harder luck than Tony Stewart.
Stewart's No. 20 Chevrolet was the race's dominant car until Stewart lost fuel pressure under caution on Lap 289. Stewart had led 257 laps to that point but lost 23 laps in the pits while his crew repaired a broken fuel cable.
That handed the lead to Busch, who held the point from a restart on lap 291 until Hamlin passed him for the lead through Turn 3 on Lap 298.
Gordon, who took over the points lead from absent Mark Martin, was the only one of the top qualifiers who recovered to post a top-10 finish.