Homestead-Miami Speedway, November 18th-21st, 2004
NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series: Ford 400, Sunday, 1:00PM
Kurt Busch
Team: No. 97 Sharpie Ford Taurus
Owner: Jack Roush
Crew Chief: Jimmy Fennig
Chassis: #65 (new chassis, tested at Homestead on 11/2-3)
Kurt Busch on racing at Homestead-Miami Speedway:
"We need to go out and attack the race track this weekend with the Sharpie Ford, to lead laps and to make sure that we do our job at the end of the race. Miami is going to be a much easier race track to race other competitors on than Darlington was last week. It's a clean slate. It's a fresh style of race track - not many laps have been run there. We went down and tested two weeks ago as well as the No. 48 and the No. 24. It's going to be a matter of who brings the most information from that test and who is able to execute the proper way to come out on top. The track is now a year older so it's a bit more mature, so that will help with the racing. With the way the corners are shaped here with the flatter entry and wider exits with the banking it's definitely a track that you don't have to worry about track position because you can pass.”
Crew Chief Jimmy Fennig on racing at Homestead-Miami Speedway:
“Last year we only got a few laps at this track before we got caught up in a wreck early on, so it was important for us to go down there and test for a couple of days. We tested the car we raced at Kansas City and a new chassis, and Kurt liked the new one, so that’s the one we’re going to bring down. We’re going to go down there and do what we do every week, and that’s try to win this thing.”
Fast Facts:
Kurt Busch continues to the lead in the 2004 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series following his sixth place finish in Darlington last week. He now leads second-place Jimmie Johnson by 18 points.
Busch has finished in the top six in seven of the nine “Chase for the NEXTEL Cup” events, and has finished on the lead lap and led at least one lap in all but one of the races. Busch is the only driver to finish in the top 10 in all but one of the “Chase” events.
Busch has scored bonus points in eight of the nine races of the Chase, leading all drivers with 50 bonus points. Busch’s 9.3-average finish in the first nine races of the Chase is the best of all drivers.
Busch is running the No. 97 Sharpie paint scheme for the final of 17 events this weekend.
Sunday’s race will mark Busch’s 150th start in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series.
Busch is the only driver eligible to win the championship that has won the race and the pole at Homestead (in 2001 under the track’s former configuration).
