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Kyle Busch’s Career Held Up by NASCAR Rule Change (HUNTERSVILLE, N.C.) NASCAR’s newest rule change will effectively keep Roush Racing’s 16-year-old driving sensation, Kyle Busch, from participating in NASCAR’s Craftsman Truck series in 2002. NASCAR recently announced that beginning in 2002, all drivers, crew members and other participants in their three major series, Winston Cup, Busch Grand National, and Craftsman Trucks, as well as all NASCAR Touring Series' must be age 18 or older in order to compete. “We feel that the rule change and reasoning behind that rule change is appropriate and clearly in the best interests of the sport,” comments Geoff Smith, President of Roush Racing. “ We should point out, however, that Roush Racing did not need a rule to insure that Kyle Busch completed his education. We already had that rule in place. And, by the way, neither Kyle Busch nor his parents needed Roush Racing to tell Kyle he had to finish school on time. Kyle’s an honor student who is scheduled to graduate next May, one full year ahead of his class. In fact, Kyle’s demonstrated motivation to take care of his education was one of the reasons we were willing to hire him.” “I am extremely disappointed that I have to wait to race,” adds Kyle Busch. “I’m an honor student and have worked hard to graduate from high school early so that I could get a head start on my career. At no point did my desire to race interfere with my school work and I am confident that I will have a successful future with Roush Racing once I am able to resume my career on the track.” “Roush Racing will continue to support Kyle Busch and honor all of our contractual obligations to him,” says Max Jones, Roush Racing’s General Manager of its truck program. “We know that he will be a very successful member of the Roush Racing family, and I personally can’t wait for his 18th birthday because I know his potential.” Busch competed in six races during the 2001 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in Roush Racing’s No.99 Ford F-150 and had three top-five starts and two top-five finishes. NASCAR’s sudden rule change did create a bit of an operational problem for Roush Racing as the team was in full preparation for the upcoming 2002 season. “This rule change completely caught us off-guard,” comments Jones. “But, we have to live with it, and we will continue to look for sponsors and hope to get the No. 99 back on the track as soon as we can. Until that happens, we will put all of our efforts into the success of Jon Wood and the No. 50 truck.” Roush Racing is a subsidiary of Roush Industries and operates eight motorsports teams; four in NASCAR Winston Cup with drivers Mark Martin, Jeff Burton, Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch; two in the Busch series with Burton and Greg Biffle; and two teams in the Craftsman Truck series with drivers Jon Wood and Kyle Busch.
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