Busch blows two engines in practice

JOLIET, Ill. -- Kurt Busch did not enjoy his happiest hour Saturday at Chicagoland Speedway.

	Kurt Busch

The second-year Roush Racing driver blew not one, but two engines during the final day of practice for Sunday's Tropicana 400. Hence, he must start at the rear of the field Sunday, negating his stellar second-place qualifying effort.

Following the second motor failure, the team claimed the hood of Busch's Rubbermaid Ford was damaged when it was placed on the wrecker to be towed back to the garage. However, the Roush team decided to stick with their primary car for Sunday's race.

Before said troubles, Busch ranked fourth on the speed chart during Happy Hour, two-tenths of a second behind Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s quick lap of 30.364 seconds.

"You go to some tracks and you just click," Earnhardt Jr. said. "And we tested here, spent a lot of time, put a lot of effort into our test when we came here and that's how we're fast. We were pretty good in qualifying, but we're really good now. Our car's really great for the race."

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Polesitter Ryan Newman, the fastest driver in the day's first practice, posted the second quickest Happy Hour time behind Earnhardt. Points leader Sterling Marlin was third, followed by Busch and Jimmy Spencer, the fifth-place finisher here one year ago.

A major obstacle facing drivers Sunday will be track position. This being just the second time NASCAR has visited Chicago, the track has yet to form a second racing groove.

"There's enough room to pass," Earnhardt Jr. said. "If you have to pass a slower car on the high side you can do it. You ain't going to be able to race up there. Everybody wants to be on the bottom."

Still yet, the second groove is far better than it was during the inaugural event one year ago.

And by Sunday, there will have been several practices, a Busch Series race and an International Race of Champions event on the surface.

"Obviously, with the race track going through one winter stage so far, the asphalt's changed a little bit of color, and we can start to see now that the groove is developing," Busch said Friday after qualifying.

"When they drop the green flag tomorrow, we'll see how stable that second groove is, with the cars in the outside lane, how far back they get shuffled, or if they're able to maintain their positions.

"It takes years for a groove to develop. It takes winters, takes tires on the race track, and takes series' to run here. It takes the Craftsman trucks, it takes the Busch Series, it takes IRL, it takes CART, it takes any type of racing it can take to groom in a race track."

Tony Stewart ranked sixth in the final practice Saturday, followed by Joe Nemechek, Jeff Burton, Jeff Green and last year's winner, Kevin Harvick.