Dover International Speedway, September 24-26, 2004
NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series: MBNA 400, 1:00PM Sunday, September 26
Kurt Busch
Team: No. 97 Sharpie Ford Taurus
Owner: Jack Roush
Crew Chief: Jimmy Fennig
Chassis: #46 (won at Bristol in the spring)
Kurt Busch on racing at Dover International Speedway:
"When I first started out in the Cup series, Dover was one of my favorite tracks. I made my first Cup start there in 2000 in the No. 97 John Deere Ford Taurus and we qualified well at 10th place, and went on to finish 18th, so it was a solid way to kick off our Cup series efforts. I had won earlier that weekend in the inaugural truck race at Dover, but since then we haven't had the same success there. It's a track similar to Bristol, almost like a bigger brother to that track being a mile in length at Dover versus a half-mile in Bristol, but our success at Bristol hasn't translated as well to that track. But obviously we like where we are in points after our run at Loudon last week, and we want to continue that this weekend in the Sharpie car in the second race of the 'Chase'.”
Crew Chief Jimmy Fennig on racing at Dover International Speedway:
“We brought a couple of cars up here to test in the spring, and we’re going with the car that we ran with at Bristol earlier this year. We had a good run last week, and we need to continue that kind of thing as we keep going in these final 10.”
Fast Facts
By leading the most laps on his way to victory at Loudon last week, Busch picked up the bonus points necessary to close the 45-point deficit from seventh to first in points and share the 2004 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series points’ lead with Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Kurt Busch’s NHIS victory was the 11th in his Cup career, and third of the season, following his win in July at the Siemens 300 at NHIS.
Busch became the second driver in as many years to sweep the NEXTEL Cup Series events in Loudon, following Jimmie Johnson’s performance in 2003. Busch’s performance also marked the second straight year he has swept both races at one track, following last year’s victories at Bristol.
Busch is running the No. 97 Sharpie paint scheme for the 12th 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 won the inaugural Craftsman Truck Series race at Dover earlier that same weekend.
Busch has started eleventh 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.
