'Last year we got wrecked twice by Earnhardt … and I felt like those were the situations that took us out of the running for the championship, and that had nothing to do with tonight,' Busch said.
HARD RACING!
Busch: Crash with Earnhardt Jr. unintentional
By Scene Daily
RICHMOND, Va. -- Kyle Busch knows he’s in for the wrath of the Junior Nation.
But that’s what a driver gets if he’s racing Dale Earnhardt Jr. at the end of the race – and Earnhardt Jr. ends up crashing.
Battling for the lead with less than three laps remaining in Saturday night's Crown Royal 400 at Richmond International Raceway, Busch was running second and tapped Earnhardt Jr, who went spinning between turns 3 and 4. Busch wound up second while Earnhardt Jr. was 15th.
"Everybody probably is racing around the race track scared to death of wrecking Dale Earnhardt Jr., so why would I be any different?" Busch said. "That was just a product of good, hard racing. I apologize that that happened, and I hated that it did."
Busch said if he wanted to do it intentionally, he would have spun Earnhardt Jr. on the final lap "where I probably could have still won the race."
Earnhardt Jr. replaced Busch at Hendrick Motorsports this year while Busch moved to Joe Gibbs Racing. Busch has two Cup wins and leads the Sprint Cup point standings while Earnhardt Jr. has none this year and ranks third.
"Last year we got wrecked twice by [Earnhardt] … and I fell like those were the situations that took us out of the running for the championship, and that had nothing to do with tonight," Busch said. "It was just a circumstance where I got into the corner, Dale got into the corner, we didn’t give each other enough room and we wrecked."
Busch joked that Earnhardt Jr. fans were giving him the "No. 1 sign" during the final laps.
"For me there’s nothing you can say – absolutely nothing," Busch said. "If I apologize up and down even though it may or may not be my fault, it would not make a difference.
"Dale got wrecked, he should have had a win tonight quote, unquote. But I’ll say it again, it’s just unfortunate circumstances for him because he didn’t get a win and for me because now I’ve got to put up with it."
Posted May 04, 2008 , 11:06 am EST Last Updated May 04, 2008 , 11:29 am EST
