Camping World 300 - Kyle Busch Notes

PREVIEW: KYLE BUSCH (NO. 5 HOT SHOT CHEVROLET)
VENUE: CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY (TWO-MILE D-SHAPED OVAL)
CIRCUIT: NASCAR BUSCH SERIES (RACE 27 OF 35)
EVENT: SATURDAY, SEPT. 1, 2007 (150 LAPS, 300 MILES)

BACK TO CALI: Kyle Busch returns to California Speedway this weekend hoping to improve on his third-place finish in the NASCAR Busch Series race there in February. Saturday evening's race will be Busch's sixth in the Busch Series at California, where he has earned three top-10 finishes.

FIRST VICTORY: Busch earned his first career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series victory at California Speedway in September 2005 after leading 95 of the 254 laps. Busch also earned his first career NEXTEL Cup pole at California Speedway in February 2005.

DENVER PIT STOP: Busch was on the sidelines Thursday night at Mile High Stadium in Denver to watch his favorite NFL team, the Denver Broncos, play the Arizona Cardinals in the league's last round of preseason football. Busch left happy, as the Broncos won 21-3.

TEAM 5 STATS: In only 13 starts this season, the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Busch Series team has posted eight top-five finishes and 10 top-10s, including a victory at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway in July. The team leads the series with 683 laps led and has paced the most miles on the circuit at 1028.95.

HOT SHOT RETURNS: The Hot Shot paint scheme will return on the No. 5 Chevrolet this weekend at California Speedway. Hot Shot, a brand of insect killers, was on the Chevy last weekend when it finished fourth at Bristol, Tenn.

GO-TO CHASSIS: Crew chief Mike Bumgarner has selected Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 356 for Saturday's Busch Series race at California Speedway. This chassis has been driven by Kyle Busch and Mark Martin at five intermediate tracks this season. In those five races, Chassis No. 356 has earned one pole, four top-five finishes and five top-10s. It also has led 341 laps.

* * * * * * * * * *

KYLE BUSCH, DRIVER OF THE NO. 5 HOT SHOT CHEVROLET: (ON THE HOT SHOT CAR.) "The first time we ran this paint scheme was last weekend in Bristol. It got a lot of attention because of the name 'Hot Shot.' I'm walking around in my firesuit and fans are just pointing at me and calling me 'Hot Shot.' I hope they know this is a bug killer and not some nickname I've given myself. But it's fun. It's a different looking car and even my spotter pointed out how good it looked during the race at Bristol. I told him that he gets another chance to look at it this weekend in California. Hopefully, it will look just as good doing burnouts."

BUSCH (ON THE NO. 5 TEAM'S SUCCESS THIS SEASON.) "We've had a good year in the Busch Series. I'm not going to say 'great' because I think there are a lot of wins that we missed out on. Atlanta in March, we had a loose lugnut that cost us the win. I thought we were going to win Las Vegas, too, but that was just great racing at the end. I could go on and on. But this team continues to rally and every race we enter we're a threat to win. We just need to get to that point and follow through with it a few more times this year. I want some more wins to show for how good this team is."

BUSCH: (ON HOW WELL CHASSIS NO. 356 PERFORMS) "Every once in a while, you get a car that is just great. That is how this one is. Every time we take it off the truck, it's nearly perfect. I almost won Atlanta in it. It was strong at California, but just not quite strong enough. Texas and Chicago were really strong races for us, too, where if a pit stop or some strategy would have been different, we would have had a couple more wins. Mark (Martin) nearly won in it, too, I think. The car has just done really well for us and I'm looking forward to another weekend in it."

BUSCH (ON FOOTBALL SEASON STARTING.) "I had a great time at Michigan a couple of weeks ago. We went to the University of Michigan Wolverines practice and really got to see an inside look of what goes on there. Meeting Coach (Lloyd) Carr and the players was very cool for me because I'm a big fan of that team. This week, I got to shake it up a bit and go watch my favorite NFL team play. We don't have an NFL team in Las Vegas, and the Denver Broncos are about the closest team to us, so I grew up being a fan."