Busch wins first COT race by beating Burton, Gordon

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- As Jeff Burton considered how to beat Kyle Busch in the closing laps at Bristol Motor Speedway, he couldn't shake the lessons his mother taught him as a child.[/align][/align]
"My mother always told me to do onto other people the way you want them to do you," Burton remembered. "That's the only thing I know to do. I've always tried to let the guy I am racing with set the rules. ... Kyle drives hard. He drives really hard. But he's always raced me with respect."



Food City 500
Unofficial Results







Pos.
Driver
Make


1.
Kyle Busch
Chevrolet

2.
Jeff Burton
Chevrolet

3.
Jeff Gordon
Chevrolet

4.
Kevin Harvick
Chevrolet

5.
Greg Biffle
Ford

6.
Jeff Green
Chevrolet

7.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Chevrolet

8.
Clint Bowyer
Chevrolet

9.
Jamie McMurray
Ford

10.
Casey Mears
Chevrolet
• Complete Results click here[/align][/align][/align][/align]And with that, Burton refused to bump Busch out of the way Sunday, instead pulling alongside of him before Busch beat him in a drag race to the finish line to win the first Car of Tomorrow race.
The two have battled in the Busch Series this season, and had a stirring door-to-door duel in Las Vegas two weeks ago that Burton won as Busch spun backward across the finish line.
Burton credited Busch with racing clean that day, and both drivers had it fresh in their memories on the final three laps Sunday.
"Jeff Burton easily could have dumped me there in [Turns] 3 and 4, but I think our Vegas finish helped me out a little bit with that," Busch said. "I think I had some brownie points to use up."
Busch took the lead with 16 laps to go on a smooth pass around Denny Hamlin in thick traffic and stayed there through a pair of cautions. He had driven away from the competition when the 15th and final caution set up a three-lap shootout.
With Busch and teammate Jeff Gordon running 1-2 at the restart, the two plotted their own strategy with their respective crew chiefs.
"Well, good job guys," Busch sighed at the final caution. "We'll do what we can. I can't promise you anything."
"He'll be nice," crew chief Alan Gustafson said. "He'll play nice."
It didn't sound that way on Gordon's channel.
"Tell that 5, if I get a fender underneath him, he better think about the fact that we're teammates," Gordon said. "If I don't get a fender underneath him, I won't move him out of the way."
It never mattered, though, as Burton jumped past Gordon on the restart and quickly pulled onto Busch's rear bumper. Burton looked low and Busch threw a block, then he went high and Busch blocked that, too.
Burton finally pulled alongside Busch as they closed in on the finish line, but Busch nipped him at the flag for his first Nextel Cup victory on a short track.
Both drivers could have spun Busch to get past him, and the 21-year-old appreciated the veterans for racing him clean.
"Without Jeff Gordon and [URL=http://www.nascar.com/drivers/dps/jburton00/cup/index.html][color=#990000]J

 

its gonna be a HENDRICK year of wins
next win will be jeff gordon

 

lets hope so
be nice to see him win after his 2 2nds and a 3rd place this year already....

 

 

I watched the was.....
did not think to much of it.....

All the money that NASCAR has spent and they could not figure out that the spliter will cut tires until the race yesterday........
They should have not started the COT yesterday. Bristol is not an easy track to run but its notknow forcars walking away like they did...I dont know about you guys but it seemed to me that the radaitors seem to get damaged very easy along with rear end items. You wonder why Nascar and Bristol are redoing the track because they know after yesterday it will not go another 50 plus races to a sell out crowd after such a boring race yesterday

 

Oh and I forgot this one
Busch needs to thank Burton, because if it was Gordon behind him Jeffery boy would have moved him out of the way..... teammate or not.....

Sorry that Tony had his bad luck with a 20.00 cable.

 

gordon wouldn't have moved a team mate out of the way...no way...
i dont care if you dont like him...but he wouldn't movea teammate out of the way...

they even had his radio conversation on nascar.com between gordon and rick hendric to tell busch not to take him out...if he tried to pass him...

if you dont like gordon thats fine...but he would never take out a team mate...he's not gonna risk his own car or both cars...especially when the points race starts right @ the start of the year...notice he's first in points

 

Wiz
Believe what you want to believe about Jeff,
He has been know to move drivers even teamates out of the way.....
Im not knocking him down, he is a racer and will dowhat ever it takes to win
If you notice the radio conversation was Jeff tell Hendrick to tell Busch not to take him out....
Not the other way around

 

name once when gordon has ever taken out a team mate and it has ever been on purpose?
he took out kenseth yes, but that was retaliation for what kenseth did to him...but he's nto a team mate..and kenseth new he was slower but wasn't getting out of the way...
gordon will put a driver out of the way if they're slowing him down..yes i agree that...but not his own team mate..and not for no reason..if he can get around anyone he will..but if they're slowing him down and blocking him i dont blame him for moving them...especially kenseth...i can't stand him..

 

THANK YOU
well said
go GORDON go lol