SIGNATURE MOMENT:
Kyle Busch will sign autographs on Saturday, May 7 at the Kellogg's Racing souvenir rig beginning at 4 p.m. ET. Tickets will be handed out that morning on a first come, first served basis.
KYLE BUSCH FANS UNITE:
Fans of Busch, driver of the No. 5 Kellogg's Chevrolets in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, can vote the Raybestos Rookie into the May 21 NEXTEL All-Star Challenge at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Log onto www.nextel.com/allstar for details.
'5' LOOKING FOR THIRD DARLINGTON 'W':
Hendrick Motorsports has put a No. 5 Chevy in Darlington's Victory Lane on two occasions. Labonte visited the Winner's Circle in the final Labor Day weekend Southern 500 in August 2003, while Ricky Rudd won at "The Lady in Black" in April 1991.
'5' TESTS LOWE'S:
Busch will test his No. 5 Chevrolets at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Tuesday, May 3 and Wednesday, May 4 in preparation for the upcoming NEXTEL Cup events at the 1.5-mile facility.
MAKE IT A HENDRICK DOZEN:
Rick Hendrick leads all car owners with 11 Cup Series wins at Darlington Raceway. Junior Johnson is second with 10 first-place finishes, while three are tied for third-place with eight victories.
MOMS TO BE HONORED SATURDAY:
Along with several other NEXTEL Cup moms, Ramona Vickers and Gaye Busch, mothers of Brian Vickers and Kyle Busch, will serve as grand marshals for Saturday night's race at Darlington. With Mother's Day on Sunday, the contingent of NASCAR moms will be introduced alongside their sons during pre-race ceremonies. The group will also provide a new variation of the traditional "Gentlemen, start your engines." Instead, fans will hear "Sons and gentlemen, start your engines!"
KYLE BUSCH, DRIVER OF THE NO. 5 KELLOGG'S CHEVROLETS:
(ON RACING AT DARLINGTON.) "I'm looking forward to racing at Darlington. I know it's not going to be a walk in the park, but it's a challenging track and, as a driver, you either love it or dread it. I'm up for the challenge. You have to have a good-handling race car there because the track itself is so narrow. You can almost reach out and grab the wall because it's such a narrow place. You have to race the track for 450 miles and then go for it at the end."
BUSCH:
(ON NIGHT RACING AT DARLINGTON.) "I've never raced under the lights at Darlington so it should be pretty cool. We run so close to the wall, it should be interesting to actually experience how difficult it will be to see the wall under the lights."
BUSCH:
(ON HIS SEASON TO DATE.) "We're not exactly where we want to be. Talladega didn't help that situation and it's a good thing that, even though we wrecked, we only lost one position (in championship points). It's time to get down to business. That's why we're testing Lowe's Motor Speedway this week and very happy to get back to these 1.5-mile tracks."
ALAN GUSTAFSON, CREW CHIEF OF THE NO. 5 KELLOGG'S CHEVROLETS:
(YOU WON AT DARLINGTON WITH TERRY LABONTE IN 2003. WHAT DID THAT MEAN TO THE TEAM?) "That was a very cool win and I actually have that picture hanging in my office. There are a lot of faces in that photo that are still a part of this team today. We climbed the fence there because that race ended the Southern 500 tradition on Labor Day weekend."
GUSTAFSON:
(ON DARLINGTON.) "Darlington is a tough track, but Kyle can handle it. We have a car that we wanted to run in Atlanta, but since we crashed it in qualifying we didn't get the chance to see how it would actually run. It's a good car from what we know so far, so we should be pretty fast."
