NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series: MBNA 400, Dover International Speedway, 6/6/4
Kurt Busch
Team: No. 97 Sharpie IRWIN Ford Taurus
Owner: Jack Roush
Crew Chief: Jimmy Fennig
Chassis: #41 (finished sixth at Darlington earlier this year, and eighth at Atlanta in the fall of 2003)
Kurt Busch on racing at Dover International Speedway:
"Dover is one of those tracks where we haven’t done as well as we would have liked in the past, so we went up there a few weeks ago to test. We focused on trying some things out as far as a different shock package for the No. 97 Sharpie Ford during the test. These new softer tires are moving around a bit more than the harder compounds, so we’ve had to adjust for that. It’s a high-banked concrete facility, and I wish some of my luck from the other track similar to that (Bristol) on the circuit would translate over to Dover.
“I think the Sharpie team is back on track. The guys provided some great pit stops last week during the 600, so we’re looking forward to trying to go out and doing the same at Dover this weekend.”
Crew Chief Jimmy Fennig on racing at Dover International Speedway:
“This is one of those tracks that’s going to factor into the final ten races, so we’re looking at it differently than some of the other events. We brought a couple of cars up here to test a few weeks ago, and we’re going with the car that we ran with at Darlington earlier this year. We had a rough May, but I think we’re back on track now to gain some points.”
Fast Facts
Kurt Busch moved up one spot to eighth in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series standings following his 11th place run in the Coca-Cola 600. Busch’s streak in the top 10 in points now enters its fifth month (began at Rockingham on Feb. 22).
Busch is running the No. 97 Sharpie paint scheme for the fifth of 18 events in the 2004 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series season.
Busch’s first start in NASCAR’s premier series came at Dover International Speedway on Sept. 24, 2000, qualifying 10th and finishing 18th in the No. 97 John Deere Ford Taurus.
Busch has started seventh or better in his last four appearances at Dover, but that streak has resulted in only one top 10 (Sept. 2002), his only top 10 at the track.
