USG Durock 300 - Kyle Busch Notes

PREVIEW: KYLE BUSCH (NO. 5 LOWE'S/HITACHI CHEVROLET)
VENUE: CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY (1.5-MILE OVAL)
CIRCUIT: NASCAR BUSCH SERIES (RACE 19 OF 35)
EVENT: SATURDAY, JULY 8 (200 LAPS, 300 MILES)

BUSCH UP FRONT: In his two previous NASCAR Busch Series appearances at Chicagoland Speedway, Kyle Busch has posted two top-three starts, including an outside pole position in 2004.

WIN WOULD BE A HENDRICK FIRST: A Busch Series victory Saturday would be the first at any level for car owner Rick Hendrick at Chicagoland Speedway. Hendrick Motorsports has earned two poles and 10 top-10 finishes at the 1.5-mile track between NASCAR NEXTEL Cup and Busch Series competition since the venue hosted its first NASCAR events in 2001.

PAST PERFORMANCE: Busch led 49 laps in his 2004 debut at Chicagoland, but a broken valve spring relegated the No. 5 Lowe's team to a 12th-place result. In 2005, Busch qualified third and led one lap, but finished 36th because of a tire issue early in the event.

CHASSIS NO. 312 FOR BUSCH: Crew chief Chad Walter has selected Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 312 as the primary option for Saturday's Busch Series event at Chicagoland Speedway. Busch drove it to a pole position at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March, to a fourth-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway in April and led 61 laps with the car at Kentucky Speedway last month.

WINDY CITY TIES: Busch's last trip to Chicago, where his father Tom was raised, came last fall when he appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show."

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BUSCH AT BAT: Kyle Busch will participate in the Racin' the Bases Celebrity Softball Challenge on July 6 at Silver Cross Field in Joliet, Ill. Busch will sign autographs beginning at 5 p.m. local time and play in the softball game at 6 p.m. Proceeds benefit the Victory Junction Gang Camp.

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KYLE BUSCH, DRIVER OF THE NO. 5 LOWE'S/HITACHI CHEVROLET: (ON REACHING THE HALFWAY POINT OF THE BUSCH SERIES SEASON.) "We're definitely not where we want to be at this point. We did get a win at Bristol, but we were hoping to have a few more under our belts by now. I feel that we've had some really good races, but we just don't have the statistics to prove it. The team is coming together, though, and that's positive. I feel like we've improved and that's a good sign for the rest of this season and next year as well."

BUSCH: (ON CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY.) "Chicagoland is a similar track to Las Vegas and Kansas, and it has a little bit of Kentucky in it, too. Overall, it's a pretty cool place. It's a nice, easy-going, forgiving race track where we typically run well."

BUSCH: (ON GETTING AROUND CHICAGOLAND.) "The key to getting around Chicagoland is to have no bind in the chassis. You can't be tight, that's the biggest thing there. You don't want to slow down your momentum that you carry through the corner. It's similar to Kansas, but for some reason I can't seem to run well there. Everyone says that Chicago and Kansas are the same track, but I can run better at Chicago than I can at Kansas."

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CHAD WALTER, CREW CHIEF OF THE NO. 5 LOWE'S/HITACHI CHEVROLET: (ON THE LOWE'S/HITACHI TEAM'S PREPARATION FOR CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY.) "We're taking the same car that we took to Kentucky last month. We're treating the race in Chicago this weekend a lot like that race in Kentucky. The tracks have a few differences, but they're actually very similar, flat, 1.5-mile ovals. This Lowe's team has had a lot of success at Kentucky with Kyle, so we're hoping to transfer that over to Chicagoland this weekend."

WALTER: (ON THE DIFFICULTIES OF CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY.) "The Busch Series runs a lot of night races, and this, of course, is a day race. That, right there, changes the outlook. The track will get real slick if the sun is out and it's a fairly warm day. Goodyear is also bringing a new tire to the track this weekend, so that's something we'll have to work with and adjust to this weekend. Also, pit road is kind of tricky at Chicago. The entry to pit road is very flat, so it's easy for a driver to outdo himself on entry. The driver needs to be very aware of his pit road speed both on entry and exit."

WALTER: (ON MAINTAINING TEAM MORALE.) "This team is actually so much better than the results have shown over the past few weeks. Our engine shop has provided us more horsepower. We've spent more time on the chassis over the past few weeks. We're trying new things to get the most out of this Lowe's Chevrolet every weekend. When we have bad weekends, like we've had over the past month, we just try to remember that there are things in racing that are uncontrollable, like getting caught in someone else's accident. With that being said, we all concentrate on what we can control. From the time the No. 5 Chevy hits the setup plate to the time it rolls onto the grid, we don't want anything that is in our control to go wrong. That way, we can devote our time on how to best be prepared to combat the uncontrollables."