Funai 250 - Kyle Busch Notes

KYLE BUSCH
NO. 57 SPECTRACIDE® TRIPLESTRIKE
GRASS-WEED-ROOT KILLER CHEVROLET
RICHMOND PREVIEW

Kyle Busch returns to the Busch Series this weekend driving the No. 57 Spectracide TripleStrike Grass-Weed-Root Killer Chevrolet at Richmond International Raceway. Busch won this race last year when he drove the No. 5 Lowe’s Chevrolet.

Q&A WITH DRIVER KYLE BUSCH:

How did it come about that you’re driving the No. 57 at Richmond, a race you weren’t originally scheduled to take part in?
“We had the No. 57 Spectracide Fire Ant Killer car in Texas a few weeks ago. We were real fast in practice, and I thought we had a shot at the pole. I won the pole there last year, so I got a little greedy and wanted to do it again for the team and the sponsor. I ended up wrecking and didn’t make the race. We wanted to make it up to Spectracide, so we sat down and looked at the schedule to see where we could run the No. 57 again. As soon as we saw Richmond, we all said, ‘That’s the one.’

“We had such a great car here last year, winning the pole and leading so many laps, that I definitely wanted to come back here and see if we can do it again. I’ll probably be a little more conservative this time around and just try to get a solid starting spot and not worry so much about winning the pole. I say that now, but if the car’s as good as it was last year, it’s going to be really hard to take it easy in qualifying.

“The cool thing is we’ve got Spectracide on the car again, so I’m still angling to get a new nickname out of this deal. I still say ‘The Exterminator’ has a nice ring to it. Anything’s better than being called ‘Shrub.’” The race is being held on Friday the 13th. Are you the superstitious type?
“I can’t say I’ve ever had anything bad happen on a Friday the 13th when I was growing up, so I’m not too worried about that. I am a little superstitious, though. I don’t know of many drivers who aren’t. Mine are the same superstitions you usually hear about – I’ve never driven a car with the number 13 on it, and I’ve never driven a green car.

“One little superstition I have is I don’t like for people to use the words ‘win’ or ‘Victory Lane’ around me on race day. A couple of years ago, we won a few races and the crew guys started saying stuff like, ‘See you in the winner’s circle,’ or ‘See you in Victory Lane.’ Guess what? We didn’t win another race that year.

“Somebody reminded me today about not wearing blue racing shoes. Jeff Green wore some one time in a Busch race at Daytona and ended up flipping down the front stretch, so he refuses to wear blue shoes. I had a pair last year and wrecked a couple of times when I was wearing them, so I got rid of them. Come to think of it, I’ve worn blue shoes in my last two Cup races and wrecked both times. Don’t be surprised if you don’t see me in them this weekend.”

GAME PLAN:

Last month, it was announced that NEXTEL Cup Rookie of the Year candidate, Kyle Busch, would drive the No. 57 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports in three NASCAR Busch Series events this season, with sponsorship from Lowe’s vendor partners. The schedule originally called for Busch to drive the No. 57 Spectracide Chevrolet at Texas Motor Speedway in April and Lowe’s Motor Speedway in October, and the No. 57 Shop Vac Chevrolet at Dover International Speedway in June.

A crash during Busch Series qualifying prevented Busch and the No. 57 team from participating in last month’s Texas Motor Speedway race, so the decision was made to add this weekend’s Busch race at Richmond International Raceway to the No. 57 team’s schedule.

While the paint design of the No. 57 Chevrolet at Texas promoted Spectracide Fire Ant Killer, this weekend’s design features another Spectracide product, Spectracide TripleStrike Grass-Weed-Root Killer.

KYLE BUSCH’S HISTORY AT RICHMOND INT’L RACEWAY: Kyle Busch started 17th and finished 22nd in a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Richmond in Sept., 2001. In his first NASCAR Busch Series race at the facility last May, Busch started on the pole (setting a new Busch Series track qualifying record) and led 236 of 250 laps en route to the first Busch Series win of his career. Last September, Busch qualified second and finished fifth in his second Richmond Busch race.

CHASSIS INFORMATION- Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 312 – Earlier this season, Boston Reid drove this chassis to a 22nd-place finish at California Speedway. Most recently, Kyle Busch attempted to qualify for the April 16 Busch Series race at Texas Motor Speedway with this chassis, but wrecked on his qualifying run and failed to make the field.

This chassis is the same car Busch qualified second with at Kentucky Speedway last June, but a crash during final practice caused his No. 5 team to bring out a backup car for the race. Busch also drove this chassis to a 14th-place finish at Memphis Motorsports Park last October.

RECORD RUN: Kyle Busch’s victory in the 2004 spring Busch Series race at Richmond International Raceway marked the first time since the inception of the Raybestos Rookie program (which began in 1989) that a rookie ever won a race after starting from the pole position.

STATS AND FACTS