KYLE BUSCH, No. 5 LOWE'S/SHOP VAC CHEVROLET: IT LOOKED LIKE YOU JUST NEEDED A FEW MORE LAPS TO GET UP THERE AND RACE FOR THE LEAD. "Our car was really, really good on the long runs. It wasn't so good at the beginning of the runs but all in all, the guys gave an awesome effort this weekend and they have all year long. It's a testament to this team. They are a championship caliber team. They put a Raybestos Rookie behind the wheel and we were only second best this year. Hopefully next year they can still have a good time and maybe next year I can go after Raybestos Rookie of the Year again." RICK HENDRICK HAD SOME NICE THINGS TO SAY ABOUT YOU EARLIER TODAY. "Rick has always been that figure to me [father figure]. He's always been great. The whole organization is a family type organization and it's great to have that support behind me. It's a lot of fun to be able to race out here with the number 5 Chevrolet and to have Hendrick Motorsports behind you, it's just another cherishable thing." YOU HAVE HAD A VERY GOOD SEASON. "Yeah, I have. It's been a really fun season. We were a Raybestos Rookie this year and we've tried to set some new marks and we have. We missed out on a couple but we tied a few [records]. We'll just go after it in the NEXTEL Cup Series and see what we can do there. All in all the guys have done an awesome job for me this year and we just came up a little bit short. We gave an awesome effort that this team has always given." YOU ARE TAKING A BIG STEP TO THE CUP SERIES NEXT YEAR. IS IT GOOD TO BE MAKING THAT STEP WITH HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS? "You can't do it with any better team. We have Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, two going after the championship, and Brian Vickers who is a Raybestos Rookie this year doing what he did and of course Terry Labonte who's always been here and been doing an awesome job. It's definitely a lot of fun to be able to go up there and know that I have a great team ahead of me and I'm looking forward to it. We still have a lot more things to accomplish in our career and hopefully we can accomplish it next year." HAVE YOU HAD A CHANCE OVER THE PAST FEW WEEKS TO APPRECIATE HOW GOOD OF A SEASON YOU'VE HAD? "I have and we have. It's been a whole team effort and it's been great for me to be able to come out here and finish second my first full season ever in NASCAR competition so I've got to look at it that way. I look forward to many more years down the road but this year was definitely one to remember." HOW BIG WAS IT TO WIN RAYBESTOS ROOKIE OF THE YEAR? "It's a pretty cool opportunity. There's only one driver that can do that every year and that's a freshman in the series. Hopefully next year we can go out there and do it again." WHAT WOULD IT MEAN TO WIN IT NEXT YEAR IN THE CUP SERIES? "Next year would be even bigger. We've won it here in the Busch Series so that's cool and all, but I think if we could just get Raybestos Rookie of the Year, not even worry about trying to contend for the championship, that will be a pretty good season for us." THIS WAS A GREAT SEASON FOR YOU AND THE TEAM. "It really has been and the team has been an awesome team for me. They've been giving me everything they possibly can. Went out here today and we were really, really, loose all day long and we kind of fixed it there towards the end. It really took about 20 laps for our car to come in. We were really good on the long runs. That's why I wished those cautions weren't coming out. Lance [McGrew, crew chief] made some awesome changes all day long. We just had to work on the Lowe's Chevrolet." IT SEEMED LIKE THE RACE REALLY DIDN'T START UNTIL 75 LAPS IN BECAUSE THERE WERE SO MANY CAUTIONS. "Those guys in front of me, they pulled away about a straightaway from me on new tires and then I would reel them back in to about a quarter-straightaway ahead of me. That shows that we really had a good long-run car and it's a shame that there were short runs today, only one long run. All we can look at is that we had a great season and we've just got to kind of look forward to next year of course." RICK HENDRICK WAS HERE TODAY AND SAT UP ON THE PIT BOX. "It was great. Rick being here just shows that he's got a strong heart and he's always going to be blessed. Our hearts and prayers still go out to that family and all the other families involved. Rick is just a tremendous man and I'm very fortunate to be able to drive for such an awesome guy and has such a family type organization that it's just fun to be able to be here and race for him." YOU HAVE A BIG MOVE NEXT YEAR. ARE YOU EXCITED ABOUT THINGS TO COME? "I'm excited for things to come. We've had a really good year this year, if you look back on it and all the things that we've done. I look forward to what we can do next year and hopefully we can accomplish some great things and hopefully nothing is too big for us to overcome."

BUSCH PRESS CONFERENCE

BUSCH: TALK ABOUT THE LAST FEW RESTARTS, ABOUT WHAT JAMIE MCMURRAY AND KEVIN HARVICK WERE TRYING TO DO AND WHAT WERE TRYING TO DO. "All race long we were really, really loose and we were just trying to overcome that and tried a few things to fix it. We just kept plugging away at it and we got pretty close there at the end. We had a pretty good car on the long run. It was really good, it wouldn't come in to probably about lap 30 or so on a long run. The last couple of restarts, I wish those cautions weren't coming out because we had such a good car on the long runs we probably could have caught those guys and outraced them. But since all those restarts did come about there, they were really good off the jump and ran the first couple of laps really strong. It was just great to come out of here with a third place finish with what we were working with all day long and trying to work on it." TALK ABOUT THE SEASON AS A WHOLE AND THE EXPECTATIONS THAT YOU HAD AT THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR. "If you just look at the results and all the things that happened to us this year, it had been a pretty great season. We've had five wins, five pole and as many top-fives and top-10s as it's been. We've had a lot of fun this year. Lance and I have really grown to know each other and learn each other and stuff like that. The whole team has been together for a long time and they've always jelled really well so to bring in a Raybestos Rookie and go out there and challenge for the championship and end up just second best by only a little bit, we were still real proud of the way that everything has gone this year."

LANCE MCGREW, CREW CHIEF, No. 5 LOWE'S/SHOP VAC CHEVROLET: "It was kind of a tough day for us. We struggled with the setup for the better part of the day. The car was a little too loose off. We adjusted on it and adjusted on it and finally got it to a happy medium there at the end of the race. I told the guys last Monday after the whole Darlington race that we had that we had more top-fives, more wins, more poles, we were 255 points better going into this race than we were even last year. That's a successful season. Kyle has done an awesome job the entire year. He's been a pleasure to work with. I look forward to having him as a teammate for a long, long time."

BUSCH: DID YOU HAVE ANYTHING FOR THE LEADERS AT THE END OF THE RACE? "If I probably would have had anything for the leaders, I would have passed them and won the race [smiles]. Obviously, not. They were really strong. Like I said, ours wouldn't come in until about 30 laps into a long run but there at the end it probably would have came in about 15 laps." IF YOU WOULD HAVE STAYED OUT A LITTLE BIT LONGER WITH THE LONG RUNS, DO YOU THINK THINGS WOULD HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT? "I do. Jamie and Reid were both pretty equal ground all day long and they were always running together. They would pull away from me on the start of runs and then they would start coming back to me there toward the end of a run so we were able to chase 'em back down and we probably would have been able to pass 'em, being so close to 'em on the restarts. If we did have like a 25 or 30 lap sprint, we probably would have been able to out-drive 'em." WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO HAVE RICK BACK ON TOP OF THE PITBOX? "It was great, just to have Rick here and his support. He has a really strong heart and he's a car owner and a great guy. He's great family person. It just shows a testament to how good he is and how good he wants to be and how he wants to be here with his teams and celebrate hopefully championships tomorrow. He's going to be around for a long time and he had to set a date for when he wanted to come back to the racetrack and for it to be this soon, I'm actually a little bit surprised. But on the other hand I'm not because I know how strong of a guy he is."