LOUDON, N.H. – While Nextel Cup drivers Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch fell short against Maine’s top Pro Stock racers last weekend at the Banknorth 250, both claimed the checkered flag this weekend at New Hampshire International Speedway.

One day after Kenseth won the Siemens 200 Busch Series race, Busch ran away from the field to win the Siemens 300 Nextel Cup race. Kenseth finished fourth.

“It was a great vacation in New England,” Busch said.

While Busch wouldn’t say that his experience at Oxford Plains Speedway helped him on the NHIS 1.058-mile oval, he certainly enjoyed the experience, even though he finished 14th, three laps down, to Banknorth 250 winner Ben Rowe.

Kenseth rallied from last to place third at the 250.

“It’s not often that you get an off-weekend with the Nextel Cup Series,” Busch said. “We’ve now got 18 straight weeks where you’re gonna be competing and it was good to take a break last weekend and to go back to what you would call your Saturday night roots of running a Late Model race.

“It’s a great thing to do once a year – to get back to your roots and to sign millions of autographs with all the pit passes that people get and to pack the stands. They said they they haven’t had a grandstand sellout like that since the early 80s. That meant a lot to Kenseth and me – to be able to bring that much excitement to the New England area.

“And that’s also a track Bob Bahre built.”

Passing lane

Track position is still important at NHIS, but starting in the top 10 is no longer a requirement to win a race at the “Magic Mile.”

Race winner Busch started 32nd. Runner-up Jeff Gordon began 24th, while fourth-place finisher Kenseth started just ahead of teammate Busch in 31st.

“The Bahres have done a great job with configuring the track to give us more lanes to pass on,” Gordon said. “When they changed the banking here, it really changed this race track. It made an outside groove and made a little bit more room for cars to get underneath.”

While Busch and Kenseth moved to the front more gradually, Gordon wasted little time. Starting 24th, he was 13th by lap 20 and had moved into the top 10 by the 40th lap.

“At the beginning when I was passing cars, that was the best I’ve ever seen cars pass here,” Gordon said. “I wasn’t the only one, obviously because the 97 (Busch) and the 17 (Kenseth) were coming up behind me as well. I think Goodyear chose a good tire here. I think a softer tire here is good. Everything was real good for passing and for racing side-by-side.”

Texas iron man

Terry Labonte made his 800th career start Sunday in a Nextel Cup car. Labonte, who finished 16th, is the fifth driver to reach the milestone.

“I’ve had good fortune to stay healthy through most of these years,” Labonte said. “I’ve had good race cars and strong teams around me, too. Otherwise, I don’t think we’d be talking about running 800 races.”

Richard Petty tops the list 1,185 starts. Others who have reached the 800-race club are Dave Marcis (883), Ricky Rudd (821) and Darrell Waltrip (809).

Labonte, a two-time Cup champion, has seen a lot of changes in NASCAR since his first race Sept. 4, 1978 at Darlington. During his first championship season in 1984, Labonte said his sponsorship total for the year was $850,000. That amount, he added, would only get him through four races in 2004.

He is still amazed about the growth of the sport to tracks across the country.

“I still can’t believe we race here at New Hampshire,” he said with a laugh. “They have a tremendous crowd up here. It’s an unbelievable crowd. The people pack the place.”

Two other drivers marked milestones Sunday. Dale Jarrett made his 550th career start, while Jeff Burton took the green flag for the 350th time. His first start came at NHIS in 1993, while four of his 17 victories have been at the Loudon oval. No driver has more victories at NHIS than Burton.

Finishes what he starts

Kevin Harvick extended his streak of running at the finish to 58 races. Harvick’s streak of races without a DNF is currently the longest in the modern era, which dates back to 1972.

Harvick ran in the top 10 for more than 100 laps before ending up 13th.

Out of the chase

Rusty Wallace’s bid to move closer to the top 10 in the points standings received a severe blow when he struck the wall near the end of the race when Dale Jarrett ran into the back of him.

His top-10 finish turned into a 30th-place disaster, one lap behind the leaders.

“Yeah, I’ll go and tell him I’m sorry,” Jarrett said. “That doesn’t do any good because I’ve been on that end of it, but I wasn’t trying to get into him. I wasn’t concerned about making a pass on him as much as I was concerned about just running and trying to stay ahead of (Kahne).”

The mishap dropped Wallace two spots to 19th in the standings and cost him at least 70 points. He is now 310 points out of 10th place with nine races left before the “Chase for the Cup.”

Hit from behind

A van carrying six members of Kasey Kahne’s No 9 team was struck from behind while stopped in traffic Sunday morning en route to the speedway.

No one was seriously injured, but transport truck driver Jeff Seaburg, who was sitting in the rear of the van, was taken to a Concord hospital for evaluation after complaining about back pains.

He was released from the hospital in time for the race, but was not able to drive the transport truck back to North Carolina.