Kurt Busch's attempt at completing "The Double" ended Sunday night after his car blew an engine late in the Coca-Cola 600 in Concord, N.C.

Busch finished sixth in his first Indianapolis 500 and was attempting to become the second driver to complete 1,100 miles in both races on the same day.

Busch ended up completing about 907 miles in his quest to join Tony Stewart as the only other driver to complete The Double.

Busch qualified 28th for the Coca-Cola 600 but had to start the 400-lap race at the rear of the field because he didn't make it to the track in time for the driver's meeting. He arrived at the track via helicopter about an hour before the start of the Sprint Cup race.

His moonlighting gig was a success. His day job was a bust under lights at Charlotte Motor Speedway because of engine woes.

"It acted like it swallowed three cylinders all at once," he said. "It's kind of a shame. It symbolizes how tough it has been for [my NASCAR] team. I thought it was great racing in traffic. The feel of the stock car right after driving the IndyCar is a feeling I'll never forget."

With 500 miles down and 600 ahead, he was still dressed in his firesuit when he took a seat in the back of an Indiana State Trooper's car and pulled out of the garage at 3:30 p.m.

"We were supposed to be headed to the chopper but we're missing a 9 year old," Busch said, referring to his girlfriend's son, Houston.

Once they found him, Busch was off to catch the Cessna Citation X to Charlotte Motor Speedway. His girlfriend, Patricia Driscoll, tweeted a photo of Busch and Houston asleep on the Cessna. He landed about an hour later.

The frenetic schedule didn't faze him. Before his engine woes, he even hinted it might not be his only shot at the back-to-back races.

"I do like it enough to do it again," he said after landing in North Carolina. "So we'll see how things go tonight. ... I need to ignore the 500 miles I just did."

"The Double" has been attempted by just three drivers, the last being Robby Gordon in 2004. Only Stewart in 2001 successfully completed the two races, finishing sixth at Indy and third at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Last trip home

Indianapolis Motor Speedway favorite Jim Nabors performed "Back Home Again in Indiana" for the 35th and final time before the race, and earlier he relived the story of how he nearly wasn't a part of the tradition.

Nabors, who first gained fame as TV's Gomer Pyle, thought he was coming to sing the national anthem until the conductor of the Purdue University band broke the news about five minutes before he was to start. He knew the melody, but not much more.

"I'm writing on my hand the words in this five minutes," Nabors said. "Three minutes by this time. And finally when I finally finished writing it, I didn't know if it was the right key, I'd never had a rehearsal or anything, and suddenly they go like that" -- Nabors pointed in comical exaggeration -- "and I go, 'BACK HOME AGAAAAAAIIIN ... . ' There we went. I had no idea it'd be all these years later and I'd still be doing this."

Nabors said though participating in the festivities was the highlight of his year, it's time to move on.

"I look back on my life and it's kind of scary," Nabors said. "Because I realized all my dreams. Where do you go from there?"

After singing, Nabors, 83, joined Indianapolis Motor Speedway board chairman Mari Hulman George for the command to start engines.

As for his decision to retire from the prerace festivities, Nabors said, "I'll be honest with you, I didn't want to stay too long at the fair."

"Everyone has been so incredible to me so many years. The first time I was here was 1972, so I guess most people have grown up with me."

Angry Ed

Ed Carpenter waited a whole year to see his Indianapolis 500 dream come crashing down yet again.

Then he let everyone know how he angry he was about it.

The Indianapolis native and pole-sitter shouted at James Hinchcliffe on the track, chided him on national television for making an "amateur move" and then said he considered punching Hinchcliffe in the face after a late crash involving Townsend Bell took out both drivers Sunday.

"Not a smart move. It wrecked both of our races," Carpenter said. "I told him if he didn't have a concussion last week that I would have punched him in the face."

The tense ride to the infield medical center stood in stark contrast to the playful digs the two drivers tossed around at a news conference when Hinchcliffe was finally cleared to drive May 15. Hinchcliffe was injured during the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis when a piece of debris hit him in the head May 10. After qualifying first and second May 18, they celebrated together on the podium, too.

But on Sunday, the usually subdued Carpenter was irate even as Hinchcliffe acknowledged he was at least partly to blame.

"Probably my fault, probably Townsend's fault and certainly not Ed's fault," Hinchcliffe said.

That was little solace to Carpenter, who had become Indy's first back-to-back pole winner since Helio Castroneves in 2009 and 2010. Last year, Carpenter's car didn't perform as well as he'd hoped and he wound up 10th. He came back this year with a car he thought was better.

Carpenter led 26 laps and consistently ran in the top five most of the day -- until Hinchcliffe hit him from the inside and sent both cars hard into the barrier.

"You've got to go for it," Hinchcliffe explained. "I actually don't think Townsend knew it was three wide. Like I said, I was the last guy there, so I've got to accept some of the blame."

'Glampers'

Some Indy 500 fans didn't need to worry about waking up early Sunday morning and joining lines of traffic to get into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway -- they were already in place after spending the night "glamping" within the track's vast infield. Speedway officials said all 70 of the upscale tents offered for the first time this year sold out. The tents, for use for four nights, came with cots or a bed, a table and chairs, race day tickets and a place to shower and use the bathroom.

Indianapolis residents Crystal Swartz, 29, and her 43-year-old boyfriend, Rock Frese, spent $1,100 on the "Queen" tent package featuring a queen bed nestled within their tent.

Frese, who was frying up bacon and eggs for the pair on a small propane grill Sunday morning, said it was fun Saturday night in the encampment next to the speedway's golf course because everyone was there to have a good time. He said the bed was comfortable but loud fireworks at 5:30 a.m., when the gates opened to the track, were a bit much.

Swartz said there was plenty of hot water in the showers, but complained that the site needed bathrooms.

"It's kind of a long walk when you're drunk and you have to go. I made that long walk a couple times last night," she said.

Sage advice

While Kurt Busch's sixth-place finish was the best of the seven Indy rookies, Sage Karam was the most impressive. The 19-year-old started 31st on the 33-car grid and finished ninth -- the biggest mover of the day.

"It's a good feeling. I was content with that. I was sitting in the pits and 12th on the red flag and I wanted to be top-10. I knew top-15 was OK, but I wanted to be top 10. We had an awesome restart, picked off a few cars and got there."

Returning champs

Juan Pablo Montoya, the 2000 Indy winner, and Jacques Villeneuve, the 1995 winner, both returned to the track for the first time in Indy cars since winning their titles.

Montoya, the only Colombian to win the race, finished fifth. Villeneuve, came out of the broadcast booth and finished 14th after starting 27th.

Bad luck

Graham Rahal tried to turn his bad luck around Sunday at Indy. Instead, he just ran into more trouble.

The American who hadn't finished better than 13th this season was the first driver out of the race because of electrical problems. It's the second time in seven Indy starts Rahal has finished last.

"I didn't think it was running quite right starting off and then all of a sudden the engine kept shutting off. We'd go out, it'd shut off, we'd go out, it'd shut off," he said. "It's just unsafe at this point to continue on. I'm ashamed."

Penalty plague

Seven drivers were penalized during Sunday's race, including Will Power and Montoya, both of Team Penske and both were caught speeding in pit lane.

Penske's other driver, Helio Castroneves, received an early-race warning for blocking.

Villeneuve was assessed a drive-through penalty for getting his car worked on while the pits were closed and another former winner, Buddy Lazier, was penalized for a pit safety infraction.

Drought continues

Roger Penske has been the most successful team owner in Indy history with 15 victories. But The Captain's last one came in 2009, a drought spanning an almost inexplicable five years.

The last time Penske went that long without winning the 500 was from 1994 through 2000 though Penske's team only competed once at Indy during that span because of the open-wheel split.

Sports on 05/26/2014