Race 2 Win: Busch Series Race Notes

NASCAR Busch Series

Sam’s Town 300 - Kurt Busch Notes

Kurt Busch
No. 12 Penske Truck Rental Dodge
NASCAR Busch Series
Las Vegas Motor Speedway Notes

Kurt will be returning to Busch Series action in this weekend’s Sam’s Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“We’ll be racing a brand new car that we tested with at Vegas back in February,” offered Penske Racing NBS crew chief Matt Gimbel. “Since our Busch effort sees all of our cars running the number 12 this year, it might take a few laps to get used to Kurt driving the bright yellow No. 12 Penske Truck Rental Dodge. This is our chassis No. 13 (PBC-013), which is good luck in my mind. I’ve never been a superstitious person. We probably put 80 or so laps on the car during the Vegas test, with Kurt logging about 70 percent of those laps. We learned quite a bit about setups during the Vegas test that we were able to apply in the race at California (the 2/24 Stater Bros. 300 at California Speedway with Penske Racing teammate Sam Hornish driving). We learned additional information at California that we’ll be able to apply when we get back to Vegas this weekend.”

Kurt never competed in NBS racing until the 2006 season and when he did, he took the circuit by storm, winning in his very first start. Starting from the seventh position in the April race at Texas Motor Speedway, Kurt drove his No. 39 Matt Gimbel-prepared Penske Truck Rental Dodge to an impressive win, leading the final 70 circuits around the 1.5-mile track.

Kurt would be looked upon as a top winning candidate every time he participated on the circuit. In seven races, he won twice (including an exciting dual with Robby Gordon on the Watkins Glen International road course), recorded five top-five finishes and six top 10s, and claimed the pole for his lone road course start. Kurt led laps in every race, led the most laps in three races and led 27.0 percent of all possible laps. Even with only seven starts, he finished 39th in points, finishing ahead of 17 drivers who had competed in more races.

“We had a lot of fun running our Penske Truck Rental Dodge last season,” said Kurt. “I can’t wait to get out to Vegas and race with Matt and the guys again. We had a great test out there, I thought.”

Busch’s hectic Las Vegas track schedule sees him practicing his Penske Truck Rental Dodge Busch car in Friday sessions from 8:30 a.m. till 9:30 a.m. and from 10:20 a.m. till 11:20 a.m. He practices his Miller Lite Dodge in NEXTEL Cup practice from 11:30 a.m. till 1:00 p.m.

NEXTEL Cup qualifying is set for 3:10 p.m. local time on Friday, followed by Busch qualifying at 5:05 p.m. Saturday’s schedule calls for NEXTEL Cup practice sessions from 9:00 a.m. till 9:50 a.m. and 10:20 a.m. till 11:20 a.m. The 200-lap, 300-mile Sam’s Town 300 NBS race is set to get the green flag at 12:00 noon (3:00 p.m. Eastern) on Saturday.

Sunday’s UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 has a 1:30 p.m. local start on Sunday and features live coverage by FOX-TV and PRN Radio.