Diamond Hill Plywood 200 - Kyle Busch Notes

KYLE BUSCH -- NO. 5 LOWE'S/STA-GREEN CHEVROLET
DARLINGTON RACEWAY PREVIEW

BRISTOL WINNER GOING TO DARLINGTON: Chad Walter, crew chief of the No. 5 Lowe's/Sta-Green Chevrolet, has selected Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 275 as the primary option for Friday evening's NASCAR Busch Series race at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway. Kyle Busch drove the car to Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway's Victory Lane on March 25.

FIRST CAREER POLE CAME AT DARLINGTON: At just 18 years old, Busch earned his first career Busch Series pole position in March 2004 at Darlington. It marked the first of five poles for Team 5 that season, which still stands as the NBS rookie record.

BUSCH WAS SECOND IN FIRST DARLINGTON START: Busch and teammate Brian Vickers put on quite a show at Darlington in August 2003. Then running a part-time Busch Series schedule, Busch finished second in his first-ever start at the 1.33-mile oval. Vickers earned the victory that day, winning his second of three events on the way to earning the 2003 Busch Series championship.

NOT YOUR AVERAGE DRIVER: Busch, who turned 21 on May 2, has been successful in two career Busch Series races at tricky Darlington. The Las Vegas native averages a top-five start (4.5) and a top-10 finish (9.5) there.

TEAM 5 CLIMBING: Busch and Team 5 continue to gain positions in the Busch Series championship standings. With a ninth-place finish Friday night at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway, the team moved from seventh to sixth in the points rundown, marking the fifth time in the past six races it has improved.

KYLE BUSCH, DRIVER OF THE NO. 5 LOWE'S/STA-GREEN CHEVROLET: (ON DARLINGTON'S UNIQUE QUALITIES.) "Darlington is a neat track because it's so different than the others we're used to racing on. You'll hear drivers say 'no grip' a lot on their radios, which is pretty typical. The track really wears down tires fast. They'll last for a few laps, and then you're fighting the 'no grip' issue again. There isn't a tire that would last at Darlington. I could take my rental car out there and the tires would be gone after 10 laps."

BUSCH: (WHAT'S THE KEY TO WINNING AT DARLINGTON?) "The trick with Darlington is remembering that you're racing the track, not your competitors. If you try to race the cars around you, you're going to wear out the tires fast. The key is sitting back, riding and taking what the car will give you relative to the track conditions. If you overdrive the car in the opening part of a run, the other guys will eat you alive in about 10 or 15 laps."

BUSCH: (ON RACING AT DARLINGTON AT NIGHT.) "Racing at night helps with the track conditions. We do get a little more grip out of the tires than we did in the day races because the air is cooler. That helps a little bit."

BUSCH: (ON DARLINGTON'S STORIED HISTORY.) "Racing at Darlington is always exciting because you know the track is a part of history. There's a tradition there that keeps going. I don't personally feel like anyone is making history at Darlington anymore. Terry Labonte's win there in the final Southern 500 might be the last truly historic moment that will come out of Darlington. There is so much history there, you can't help but recognize that."

CHAD WALTER, CREW CHIEF OF THE NO. 5 LOWE'S/STA-GREEN CHEVROLET: (ON HIS FEELINGS FOR DARLINGTON RACEWAY.) "I absolutely love Darlington. It's still a true race track. Although aero is important, it's not the primary focus there. The driver is so important at Darlington. He truly has to drive the car, not just hang on to it."

WALTER: (WHAT ARE YOUR MAJOR HURDLES AT DARLINGTON?) "The biggest concern at Darlington is tire management. The track wears on tires. You can actually wear out your tires from the time you do a pit stop to the exit of pit road. NASCAR even gives the Busch Series teams an extra set of tires for this race -- that's how important tire wear is there. We want Kyle to have good tires for as much of the race as possible. If he doesn't, he'll be sliding all over the place, no matter how good the car is."

WALTER: (ON RACE STRATEGY AT DARLINGTON.) "Darlington is a hard track to pass on. I've seen a few Darlington races end with a two- or three-lap shootout. At that point, it's a hard decision between track position and fresh tires. A lot of the decision to pit or not pit depends on where you are position-wise. But I can't remember too many races at Darlington where fresh tires haven't won that battle."

WALTER: (ON THE TEAM'S CHAMPIONSHIP HOPES.) "[Kevin] Harvick has a pretty big lead on everyone in the points right now. We could be taking risks in a desperate fight to catch up, but we're thinking more conservatively and taking the safe route. We need solid top-five finishes. That's what we're aiming for. If we get those, and he (Harvick) has some bad luck, we'll be right there to challenge him."