Carquest Auto Parts 300 - Kyle Busch Notes

KYLE BUSCH
NO. 5 LOWE’S / STA-GREEN CHEVROLET
LOWE’S MOTOR SPEEDWAY PREVIEW

Kyle Busch, who is competing full-time in the NEXTEL Cup Series behind the wheel of the No. 5 Kellogg’s Chevrolet, is returning to the Busch Series this weekend for the second race in a row and the fifth time this season. Busch will drive the No. 5 Lowe’s / Sta-Green Chevrolet in the 300-mile Busch race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, a race he won last year. Busch will also compete in next weekend’s Busch race at Dover International Speedway, driving the No. 57 Chevrolet with sponsorship from Shop Vac, a Lowe’s vendor partner.

Q&A WITH DRIVER KYLE BUSCH:

Now that you’ve won a Busch Series race and a Craftsman Truck Series race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway (LMS), is it safe to say that LMS has cemented itself as your favorite track? “Oh, yeah. It was my favorite track even before I won here, but yeah, this definitely adds a couple of check marks out next to it on my list of favorites. I just love how bumpy the place is and how hard it is to get a handle on your setups here. This place really keeps the driver and his crew on their toes all race, every race.”

After winning the truck race last weekend, you said you’re not a big fan of the work that’s been done to the track surface. Why is that? “(The levigating) is alright, but there was no need for it, I don’t think. It’s smoothed out the track some and added some grip, but I feel like it gives drivers a false sense of security. You dive off into the turns thinking (the car’s) going to stick and sometimes it doesn’t. Coming off turn two, I don’t think they ground the bottom part of the track, so you go from the old surface to the new surface, and that can be a handful.”

You won this race last year. How different do you expect this year’s race to be, given the new surface and the fact that this year’s race will be run at night? “Well, we’re going to start off the weekend with the same setup we had under the car when we ran here last October. We felt like we were actually better in the fall than in the spring race, so we’ll start with that and work from there. From what we saw in the All Star Open, I think the track is going to be a lot tighter. I can’t understand why, but the track tightened up a lot from practice to the Open last Saturday night. I’m sure we’ll have to loosen the car up from last year’s setup. Based on what I’ve seen, I think the car will be able to handle a stiffer rear spring, so that’ll probably be the first thing we try.”

KYLE BUSCH’S HISTORY AT LOWE’S MOTOR SPEEDWAY: Lowe’s Motor Speedway is the site of Kyle Busch’s first career NASCAR Busch Series start. On May 24, 2003, just three weeks after his 18th birthday, Busch qualified fifth and finished second in this event. In fact, Busch has never finished outside the top-five in a Busch Series event at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

Last Friday night, Busch became the youngest winner in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series history when he won the 200-mile truck race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Prior to Busch claiming the record, the youngest truck series winner had been Ricky Hendrick, Busch’s team owner when he drove the No. 5 Lowe’s entry full-time in 2004.

CHASSIS INFORMATION- Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 318 – This chassis was added to the Hendrick Motorsports stable last season. Kyle Busch drove this chassis to a 29th-place finish at Kansas Speedway last October. More recently, Blake Feese drove this chassis to a 23rd-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March, and a 37th-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway in April.

STATS AND FACTS