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But it destroyed Busch and Kenseth’s cars, and marked the second consecutive week that title favorite Busch found himself in the wrong place. He was wrecked last week by Dale Earnhardt Jr., and has gone from 10 points out of the lead two weeks ago to seventh in the standings, 260 points out.
“It’s unfortunate for our Chase chances, but we knew that Talladega was going to be our mulligan, we circled it on the calendar that this was going to be the one we were going to wreck in,” Busch said. “The team of course wants to be optimistic, and they want me to be optimistic, but I’m sorry, it’s the realism that sets in that you are so far back that it’s going to take a lot to get back in this deal.”
Trouble also hit Chase drivers Jeff Burton and Martin Truex Jr., who both suffered from engine problems that ended their race early. Truex finished 42nd, Burton was 43rd and both declared their title hopes over.
“I suspect this is just too much for us to overcome regarding the championship,” Burton said.
Truex concurred.
“Without any freaky luck for anyone else, we’re pretty much out of it,” he said.
The issues with the engines, built by both Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Richard Childress Racing, put a fear in the other five teams who use the same motors and it came true when Earnhardt’s blew up.
Earnhardt, trying to end a 55-race winless streak in his final event at DEI with crew chief Tony Eury Jr., was relegated to a 40th-place finish after leading 31 laps early. Eury is moving to Hendrick Motorsports next week to prepare for Junior’s arrival at the end of the season.
“We had a good car, we led some, we got the people on their feet. I thought we could win it,” Earnhardt said. “I’m sad for Martin more than anything. We have a gremlin in there.”
That “gremlin” had title contenders Bowyer and Kevin Harvick on edge, worrying about the durability of their own motors. Both made it to the finish, but neither had anything to challenge the Hendrick duo.
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