Darlington Raceway, Darlington, S.C., May 6-7, 2005
NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series: Dodge Charger 500, Saturday, 7:10 pm (EDT)
Kurt Busch
Team: No. 97 IRWIN Industrial Tools/Sharpie Ford Taurus
Crew Chief: Jimmy Fennig
Chassis: #66 (Brand new race car)
Kurt Busch on racing at Darlington:
“Darlington has always been a good track for me to enjoy the racing surface, just the overall atmosphere at that racetrack. This year starting under the lights is only going to add to that. It's been a great track for me qualifying, but racing it just hasn't produced the types of finishes that we're capable of – other than our second place in 2003. Darlington gives you a chance to isolate yourself from all the outside circumstances and just to allow yourself to invite your setup to the racetrack and make sure that you race just the racetrack and not the other race cars.“
Crew Chief Jimmy Fennig on racing at Darlington:
“Kurt is really excited about this racetrack, because this is one where you’re more worried about the track than what the other 42 guys are doing out there.”
Fast Facts
With his sixth top 10 of the season last week (seventh at Talladega), Kurt Busch remains second in points and in the top 10 NEXTEL Cup Series competition for the 44th consecutive race week (since Rockingham 2004), currently the longest streak on the circuit.
Busch’s No. 97 Ford Taurus sports the colors of IRWIN Industrial Tools at Darlington for the fourth time this season. The IRWIN car will run the next two events through the NEXTEL All-Star Challenge at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte on May 21st.
The IRWIN Industrial Tools Racing team brings chassis #66 to Darlington, a new car.
Busch has competed in eight races at Darlington, scoring four top-10 finishes (all seventh or better). His best Darlington finish, second, came at this race two years ago.
Busch has never had a DNF at Darlington, and has led in four of his eight races at NASCAR’s original superspeedway. He struggled in his first three career starts, finishing no better than 28th, but has rebounded with finishes of seventh or better in four of his last five starts there.
Busch won his first NEXTEL Cup pole at Darlington on August 31, 2001, for the Southern 500.
Busch’s best finish at “the track too tough to tame” was 2003’s historic battle with Ricky Craven. Craven's .002-second win was the closest margin of victory in the sport since the advent of electronic timing and scoring.
