Gordon blows off Kyle Busch’s claims

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After Las Vegas native Kyle Busch and his older brother Kurt tangled on the track and exchanged some harsh words at NASCAR’s all-star event in May, Jeff Gordon made it a point to make some time for his teammate Kyle.

Gordon’s still willing to give the 22-year-old driver, who’s leaving Hendrick Motorsports at the end of the season to make room for Dale Earnhardt Jr., the benefit of the doubt. Even in the wake of Busch’s accusations last Saturday that his teammates didn’t work with him in the race he lost by inches at Daytona.

“I think he’s got the utmost support from me,” Gordon said Wednesday during a teleconference. “I showed him that before any of these moves happened. … Throughout this whole thing, I’ve told him, ‘Hey, I’m going to support you, race with you hard but be your teammate at the same time.’

“I plan on continuing to do that because it’s in our best interest because that (No.) 5 team is such a solid team.”

Teamwork is particularly important at Daytona, one of only two Nextel Cup tracks where NASCAR requires horsepower-sapping carburetor restrictor plates. Drivers need a partner to help them gain and keep momentum.

At the end of Saturday’s Pepsi 400, Jamie McMurray’s Roush Fenway Racing teammates helped push him to the win — by a bumper — over Busch. While Busch was racing on the low side of the banked oval, teammates Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Casey Mears chose to stay in the high groove.

“I guess I’m on the outside looking in now,” Busch said after the race. “I’m probably not going to be invited to the team meetings next week. I think bliss is over at Hendrick Motorsports for Kyle Busch. We’re getting ready for 2008.”

While recording his satellite radio show for this week, Johnson was asked about Busch’s remarks.

“I mean, dude, we’re racing, and he should know better than anyone that there’s times that work and don’t work. And he should also know and recognize that there’s times where he doesn’t necessarily do what other people want him to do, including his teammates, on the track,” Johnson said. “He’s not in a good situation with the fact that he’s leaving. … It would be hard to believe that things don’t escalate as time goes on and it doesn’t become more difficult for this whole teammate situation to exist.”

But Gordon said everybody should cut Busch some slack for his outburst.

“I think that was a little bit of frustration,” the four-time Cup champion said. “I think he had such a great car and a shot at winning that race, and I think that, if he was driving my car, he would understand that I didn’t really have a great opportunity to get down there and help him as easy as it may have looked.

“My car just didn’t work good all night on the bottom groove, so I had to stay up top, and there wasn’t much I could do for him.”