CUP: Kurt Busch Dumps Gordon As Payback At Martinsville

Sprint Cup

CUP: Kurt Busch Dumps Gordon As Payback At Martinsville

Kurt Busch and Jeff Gordon were at odds after Sunday's Tums Fast Relief 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup race...

Bob Pockrass | http://www.scenedaily.com | Posted October 25, 2010 Martinsville, VA

Jeff Gordon crashes Sunday at Martinsville Speedway. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

A frustrated Kurt Busch didn’t think he necessarily got even with Jeff Gordon but that his bump of Gordon was just part of racing at Martinsville Speedway.

Gordon had tapped Busch to get by him, and then Busch turned Gordon into the frontstretch wall with 115 laps left in the Tums Fast Relief 500 on Sunday.

“Listen, there was good racing all day amongst a lot of guys,” Busch said. “There was respect given for guys when they were getting back to the inside. [Gordon] was on the outside lane on restarts and so yeah, he shoved me in there and I shoved him back in Turn 4.

“I didn’t mean to get into him that hard, but over the years with Gordon here, back [when I was] in the 97, [he was] wrecking the 2 car [before I got in it], whether you’re a current Kurt fan or ex-Rusty [Wallace] fan, he’s wrecked the 2 car a lot here.”

The wreck put Gordon a lap down, but he got his lap back following a caution. He then fell back down two laps as his wounded car couldn’t keep the pace. Gordon ended up 20th and fell from fourth to fifth in the standings, 203 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson with four races remaining.

Gordon, a four-time Cup champion, admitted he gave Busch, the 2004 Cup champion, a reason to be upset.

“We got shuffled back on the pit stop before that,” Gordon said. “We ran him down quite a bit; we were quite a bit faster than him. I dove inside of him in Turn 3, and I definitely over-shot it a little bit.

“Either he didn’t know I was there or whatever and cut down on me and I got into him. Kurt Busch doesn’t have a very long fuse so either it was payback or he just got angry really quick and decided to wreck us. We just did what we could do to come home with the best finish we could.”

Busch was mad at Gordon for moving him up toward the wall late in the race.

Kurt Busch (Pictured) retaliated on Jeff Gordon at Martinsville. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

“His chicken move afterward wasn’t called for, but that shows the game we’re gonna play,” said Busch, who finished 16th to remain ninth in the standings, 277 points behind Johnson.

“One bump versus another bump, it still seems like the scorecard isn’t even.”

While Gordon admitted he gave Busch a reason to be upset, he was going to leave the retaliation to the track and not get in a war of words.

“Why does that not surprise me that he said that [stuff about me]?” Gordon said. “I think if we just let him talk, that’s all that really needs to be said. … I think if you look at the video it’s pretty self-explanatory.

“I ran him down and was quite a bit faster than him. I probably made the move a little late. I was going to get into him. It wasn’t much. But I gave him enough of a reason that whatever things he has from past history or whatever thoughts he has in there, it sparked it, you know? At that point, he was determined to wreck us.”

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