Stacker 200 presented by YJ Stinger - Kyle Busch Notes

KYLE BUSCH
NO. 5 LOWE’S / SHOP VAC CHEVROLET MONTE CARLO
DOVER PREVIEW

KYLE BUSCH’S HISTORY AT DOVER INT’L SPEEDWAY: Driving the No. 87 Chevrolet, Kyle Busch started 21st and finished 15th in the Sept., 2003, Busch Series event at Dover Speedway. Earlier this season, Busch started 14th and finished 5th in the June Busch Series race at Dover.

TEAM NO. 5’s HISTORY AT DOVER INT’L. SPEEDWAY: Crew chief Lance McGrew and the No. 5 crew (with driver Brian Vickers) are the defending winners of this event.

Q&A WITH DRIVER KYLE BUSCH:

Dover is not necessarily one of your favorite tracks. Why is that? – “I like the place, but it definitely lives up to its nickname as ‘The Monster Mile,’ because it is a monster. We had some problems the last time we were here. You look at the results and we managed to finish fifth, but it was one of the hardest top-five finishes I’ve ever been a part of.

“We had radio problems where the team couldn’t hear me, so we had to use hand signals. Then we made contact with another car on pit road and had to come back in and pull the fender off the tire. Then we messed up the nose when somebody spun in front of us and had to pit to fix that. It was just a really long day.

“The good thing about it all was that the team never panicked. They just kept working and we kept digging and made a good day out of what could have been a disaster. That’s what you have to do if you want to win the championship, and I think everyone on the team came out of that race with their heads held a little higher, knowing how much we overcame to finish in the top-five that day.”

The Busch Series had last weekend off. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? – “It’s a mixed blessing, really. I think it’s always a good thing when your team can get a weekend at home to recharge their batteries, because it is such a long season. As a driver, you’re itching to get back in the car, though. We lost a few points at Richmond (Int’l. Raceway), and you immediately want to get those back. To have to wait two weeks from Richmond to this weekend’s race just drives you crazy.

“The worst part is, we’ll race here at Dover, then we have another weekend off before Kansas. It breaks your rhythm a little. I think everyone would like to see the off-weekends spread out a little more, with one of them coming sometime between May and August. There’s a long stretch of races in there where an off-weekend would really be helpful. Still, I know the Cup guys have it a lot harder, because they don’t have a break between July and November. That’s pretty crazy. Those guys have to be so burned out by the time they get to Homestead.”

You finished fifth at Richmond Int’l. Raceway, but still lost points to Martin Truex, Jr. Is that frustrating? – “Sure it’s frustrating, but you can’t get too upset about it. If you get a top-five finish, there’s not a lot more you could have done. Looking back on it, I wish we’d have lead a lap and I wish we’d have won the race, but circumstances just didn’t play out that way. You just have to stay focused on trying to get the top-five and top-10 finishes, and hope the other guy finishes behind you every week. You’ve got to put yourself in a position to be successful, and the rest of it is kind of out of your hands.”

Q&A WITH CREW CHIEF LANCE MCGREW

From Richmond to Kansas, the team has two weekends off in a four-week stretch. Is that a distraction? – “Sometimes it is, but it’s working out pretty well for us. We tested at Kansas Speedway last week, so it kind of felt like we did have a race, since we did go to the track. We’re going to test next week as well, so it gives us a little breathing room, instead of testing and then having to head to a race a few days later.”

You have eight races left and need to erase a 105 point deficit. Does that cause you to change your strategy? – “No, not really. It’s still too early to be trying anything too drastic in terms of a pit strategy or some really different setup or something. You know, one of those, ‘Hey, we’re going to do something really radical, and it may bite us or it may help us out quite a bit,’ kind of deals. We’re just continuing to focus on getting our top-five and top-10 finishes right now. ”

CHASSIS INFORMATION- Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 298 - Chassis No. 298 is new to the Hendrick Motorsports stable in 2004. Busch drove this car to fifth-place finishes at Gateway International Raceway in May and at Dover in June. Most recently, Busch drove this chassis to a third-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway last month.

STATS & FACTS