April 15, 2007
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. didn't seem to mind that Kyle Busch rear-ended him and essentially ruined his chance to win the Samsung 500 on Sunday.
Sitting around the garage after finally giving up on repair efforts, Earnhardt was asked by a friend on Busch's crew if he would drive Busch's car. Turns out the crew had Busch's car ready to go again, but couldn't find him.
NASCAR rules permit such moves, and Earnhardt agreed. The gesture allowed Busch to finish one spot ahead of Jimmie Johnson in 37th. Earnhardt finished 36th.
Busch earned three points thanks to Earnhardt, although he did drop two spots in the points standings to seventh with 856, 280 behind leader Jeff Gordon.
``I could tell that it was a real nice car before we had the accident. Smooth steering, just smooth,'' Earnhardt said.
Busch went immediately to the garage when he slammed into the back of Earnhardt, who had hit the brakes trying to avoid a spinning Tony Stewart in front of him on Lap 253.
Earnhardt made several pit stops in an effort to repair the damage during the subsequent caution, but he surrendered not long after the restart. Earnhardt said he didn't care about the impact on the points. He dropped seven spots to 18th at 737, a whopping 399 behind Gordon.
Alan Gustafson, Busch's crew chief, said Busch thought they weren't planning to go back out and left the track.
``Junior didn't hesitate and agreed, and it was a very sportsmanlike gesture,'' Gustafson said. ``It says a lot about Dale and the kind of person he is.''
Earnhardt led 96 laps, second to Gordon's 173, and appeared to have the best car when the wreck knocked him out.
MONTOYA MASH: Taking out Tony Raines is one thing. Taking out Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. is something else entirely.
Celebrated NASCAR rookie Juan Pablo Montoya sideswiped Stewart in Sunday's Samsung 500, starting a chain of events that first sent Johnson to the garage and later indirectly led to Earnhardt being taken out of contention.
The trouble started on Lap 240 when Montoya, criticized for a wreck that hampered Raines' chances in the last race at Martinsville, slid up the track and into Stewart. Johnson had no choice but to run into Stewart during the resulting skid, badly damaging his front end.
Thirteen laps later, Stewart was desperately trying to stay on the lead lap when he lost control. This Stewart skid took out Earnhardt, who slowed quickly to avoid Stewart and was rear-ended hard by Busch.
Stewart ended up two laps down and finished 25th.
