Kurt Busch Advance
Dover International Speedway
Sept. 23rd-25th, 2005 NEXTEL Cup Series
MBNA RacePoints 400, Sunday 1:00PM
Kurt Busch
Team: No. 97 Crown Royal Ford Taurus
Crew Chief: Jimmy Fennig
Chassis: #70 (new chassis)
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 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 Dover.”
Crew Chief Jimmy Fennig on racing at Dover International Speedway:
“We’re bringing a brand-new race car this weekend to Dover, and we’re looking for a good finish. Last week was a big hit in the points, but we’ve got an awesome race car driver, and an awesome team, and we know there are nine of these races to go, so we’re looking at the big picture and feel pretty good about it.”
Fast Facts
Kurt Busch and the No. 97 Roush Racing team dropped to 10th in the “Chase” standings after the No. 10 spun Busch on lap three last week in Loudon leading to a 35th-place finish. The defending champion is now 142 behind Tony Stewart with nine races remaining in the “Chase for the NEXTEL Cup.”
Busch’s first start in NASCAR’s premier series came at Dover International Speedway on Sept. 24, 2000, where he qualified 10th and finished 18th in the No. 97 John Deere Ford Taurus. Busch won the inaugural Craftsman Truck Series race at Dover earlier that same weekend.
Though Busch has the lowest average finishing position (19.6) of the 10 drivers in the “Chase,” he has started 13th or better in his last seven appearances at Dover, a streak that has resulted in three top-10 finishes, including fifth in this race one year ago.
