Kurt Busch Advance
California Speedway
September 2nd-4th, 2005 NEXTEL Cup Series
Sony HD 500, Sunday 5:00PM
Kurt Busch
Team: No. 97 Smirnoff Ice Ford Taurus
Crew Chief: Jimmy Fennig
Chassis: #65 (won at Pocono in July)
Busch on racing at California Speedway:
“I always enjoy heading out to the west coast for races. Being from this side of the Mississippi you always want to run well at the west coast venues. This is a track where we were able to pick up a win a couple of years ago, and we ran well here in the spring, so it’s a track that we enjoy coming to at this critical point in the season with two races to go sitting seventh in points with the ‘Chase’ coming up.”
Crew Chief Jimmy Fennig on racing at California Speedway:
“We need a good finish this weekend in Fontana. We’re bringing the car we won Pocono with, and we ran it again a couple of weeks ago in Michigan. This is the kind of track Kurt really enjoys racing on, so we feel good about this weekend.”
Fast Facts
Kurt Busch remains seventh in the NEXTEL Cup standings after his 13th top-10 finish of the season (10th) last week at Bristol. The No. 97 team is now 428 points behind leader Tony Stewart with two races remaining until the beginning of the “Chase for the NEXTEL Cup,” with a 194 point margin separating them from 11th.
Busch picked up his sixth Cup career in Fontana in the April 2003, leading 102 laps on the way to his second win of four wins that year. Busch has finished in the top-three in half of his starts at the track.
Busch’s No. 97 Ford Taurus carries a special red, silver and black paint scheme for the Smirnoff Ice this weekend at Fontana.
The Smirnoff Ice team brings chassis #65 to Fontana this weekend, the same car Busch took to victory lane in Pocono in July. Busch has four top-10 finishes in chassis #65’s five starts dating back to its debut at Homestead in 2004 (fifth at Homestead on 11/21/04 clinching Busch’s championship, seventh at Texas on 4/17/05, win at Pocono on 7/24/05, seventh at Michigan on 8/21/05 – its lone finish outside the top 10 was 12th at Michigan on 6/19/05).
