Kyle Busch Notes & Quotes -- June 1, 2005
KYLE BUSCH PULLING DOVER TRIPLE:
Kyle Busch will enter all three NASCAR events at Dover, Del. Hendrick Motorsports will field his customary No. 5 Kellogg’s Chevrolet in the NEXTEL Cup Series on Sunday, along with a No. 57 Monte Carlo in Saturday’s Busch Series event. The Las Vegas native will also race Billy Ballew’s No. 15 Chevy Silverado in Friday’s Craftsman Truck Series 200-lapper.
BUSCH BUILDING MOMENTUM:
Busch led 55 laps Sunday at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, which was second only to teammate Vickers. Prior to the 600-mile event, Busch had led a total of 11 laps in the first 11 NEXTEL Cup races of the season.
HENDRICK GOING FOR 10 AT DOVER:
Car owner Rick Hendrick has nine Cup victories at Dover International Speedway, with the last two coming courtesy of Jimmie’s Johnson’s 2002 season sweep at the track. The Wood Brothers are second all-time with seven total wins.
DÉJÀ VU AT LOWE’S:
Busch won his second consecutive CARQUEST Auto Parts 300 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway on Saturday. In three starts in the May event, the 20-year-old has never finished worse than second.
‘5’ FLASHBACK:
Geoff Bodine won two races in 1986 while driving the No. 5 Chevrolets of Hendrick Motorsports -- the season-opening Daytona 500 and the May 18, 1986 event at Dover. Ricky Rudd was the next (and most recent) wheelman to drive a No. 5 Chevy to Dover’s Victory Lane. His first-place finish on Sept. 20, 1992 marked the only win of the season for Hendrick Motorsports.
‘5’ TEAM VISITS WINE COUNTRY:
Following Sunday’s event at Dover, Kellogg’s Racing will travel to California’s Napa Valley for a June 7-8 test session at Infineon Raceway. The NEXTEL Cup Series will visit the Sonoma-based road course June 26.
‘5’ BRINGING BRISTOL CAR TO ‘MONSTER MILE’:
Kellogg’s Racing crew chief Alan Gustafson has selected Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 307 for this weekend’s Cup event at Dover. The car saw action at Bristol, Tenn., in April, but has since been outfitted with fresh sheet metal.
BUSCH SIGNING AT DOVER:
Busch will sign autographs at the No. 5 Kellogg’s Racing souvenir trailer on Sunday from 9:30-10 a.m. ET. A limited number of tickets will be distributed the morning of the event on a first come, first served basis.
KYLE BUSCH, DRIVER OF THE NO. 5 KELLOGG’S CHEVROLETS:
(DOVER IS KNOWN AS A SELF-CLEANING RACE TRACK. CAN YOU EXPLAIN THAT?) “The track is so highly banked that if you wreck up on the top of the track, you know the car is going to come back down across it. You can miss a wreck by going high, but you know that guy will eventually slide back across. That is what gets most people caught up in accidents at Dover.”
BUSCH:
(WHAT IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS AT DOVER?) “I have never been that successful at Dover. I can drive a loose race car pretty well, which is what you need to be fast there, but for some reason it’s a very weird track to get a car handling right. If you do hit on the setup just right, you can check out. The concrete track itself is tough and it’s very easy to get caught up in a mess if you aren’t careful. Dover is a place where you and your spotter work hand-in-hand because things pile up easily and you have to guess sometimes where the wrecks will happen.”
ALAN GUSTAFSON, CREW CHIEF OF THE NO. 5 KELLOGG’S CHEVROLETS:
(WHAT IS SO “MONSTROUS” ABOUT DOVER?) “Dover is a tough, tough race track. The banking on the straightway is the hardest part on both the driver and the equipment. Good cars can go to the front, though, because it’s a fast track and you can pass. I love Dover, really. We had this same car in the top-five on the practice sheet at Bristol and then had a slip in qualifying. So it’s a good car. Kyle is concerned he hasn’t figured Dover out yet, but he’s running all three races this weekend. By the time he fires the engine in the Kellogg’s Chevy on Sunday, he might have an edge on the competition.”
