Banquet 400 presented by ConAgra Foods - Kyle Busch & Travis Kvapil Raybestos Rookie Notes

RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE CONTENDER FEATURE FOR THE OCTOBER 9 BANQUET 400 NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES RACE AT KANSAS SPEEDWAY.

KYLE BUSCH, No. 5 KELLOGG’S CHEVROLET:
WHAT MAKES KANSAS DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHER 1.5-MILE TRACKS? “The biggest thing at Kansas is that we don’t have the banking there that we have at Charlotte or Atlanta, but it’s some characteristics similar to California. It’s probably a mix between Vegas and Chicago, closer to Chicago, and California. I’ll we’ll be all right there. Kansas is one of those places where it’s real narrow down the straightaways. It’s real narrow in the corners, coming up off the corners. Anytime you’re trying to pass somebody you’re always real tight next to them and anybody that gets on the outside of you, especially getting into the corner and the pull you a little bit they have an easy chance of sucking you around. It’s one of those places where it’s difficult for the inside car to get the grip.”

HAS THE TRACK AGED ENOUGH TO WHERE YOU HAVE TWO DISTINCT GROOVES AND YOU CAN RACE SIDE BY SIDE? “Every year every track gets better. When Atlanta was new it was terrible to start and Chicago, Kansas, Vegas was that way. It gets better with the more age that it gets on any place that you go to.”

TRAVIS KVAPIL, No. 77 KODAK/JASPER ENGINES AND TRANSMISSIONS DODGE:
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN KANSAS AND THE OTHER 1.5-MILE TRACKS? “Of the flatter mile-and-a half’s, I like Kansas the most. One good characteristic that it has is that as you enter turn 3, it seems to pick the banking up faster off the straightaway. A lot of tracks we go to it’s like you drive and there’s no banking, no banking and all of a sudden the banking is there. It’s makes for a weird transition and it’s kind of hard to negotiate that corner. At Kansas the banking comes soon so it makes it makes it a little easier. It’s great racetrack. Every year we go back the groove gets wider and wider and we’re running two and three grooves now. It’s cool to go to the Midwest. All the fans really show up really well. There’s a lot of people there, a big crowd and it’s a great track.”

DO YOU FEEL FORTUNATE TO BE WITH THE PENSKE ORGANIZATION? TRACKS LIKE KANSAS AND CHARLOTTE REQUIRE SO MUCH TESTING AND WIND TUNNEL TIME. “Definitely. We’re constantly building new cars. We’re constantly going to the wind tunnel, constantly testing trying to find a little bit more here, a little bit more there. Fortunately we’re with a group that we have the resources and Dodge supports us with wind tunnel time. We can go ahead and do those things and research those things. There should be no excuses. We should being some of the best Dodges out there every week.”

YOU HAD A STRONG CAR AT CHARLOTTE EARLIER THIS YEAR. DOES THAT MAKE YOU LOOK FORWARD TO KANSAS? “Most of the mile-and-a-half’s we’ve ran decent. A couple of our better runs came at Charlotte and Las Vegas. We struggled at California and we had a pretty good run going at Michigan. I’m looking forward to a track like Kansas and going back to Charlotte later in the year. We’re looking forward to that. We feel like we’ve got good cars built, good bodies, and we always have good Penske- Jasper power.”

KANSAS IS A FAIRLY NEW TRACK AND YOU’VE DRIVEN SEVERAL TRUCK RACES THERE. DOES THAT HELP SHORTEN THE LEARNING CURVE FOR YOU IN THE NEXTEL CUP SERIES? “I think so. A lot of the tracks we go to, a lot of these Cup drivers have been there dozen times or so and they’ve got tons of experience. A place like Kansas, I’ve probably got just as much experience as anybody running a handful of truck races. I guess it does even it out a little bit. We’re going to go to Kentucky before we go to Kansas to try and get somewhat of a basic setup down and we should be pretty well prepared when we get there.”

CAN YOU PASS AT KANSAS? “I think so. The first year or two it was pretty tough to do, to do much passing. But as the track ages and the more rubber gets laid down the groove widens out. Guys are always searching for grip up the racetrack, not just on the bottom.”