Kurt Busch Advance
Pocono Raceway
July 22nd – 24th, 2005 NEXTEL Cup Series
Pocono 500, Sunday, 1:40PM
Kurt Busch
Team: No. 97 IRWIN Industrial Tools Ford Taurus
Crew Chief: Jimmy Fennig
Chassis: #65 (won the pole and finished fifth at Homestead last season)
Busch on racing at Pocono Raceway:
“Pocono is definitely one of the most unique tracks we’ll be visiting this year with the configuration of the track. It’s basically a road course in the shape of an oval. We’ve run well at this facility the last couple of years, and had some trouble at the end. A couple years ago we were running well and hit some debris and got into the wall, and last year we had a transmission failure while running in the top 10 towards the end of the race, and then this past fall we had tire trouble at the end when we were running for a top-five. So our results here haven’t been what they should have been. But we feel good about our car this weekend and want to continue getting the top-10 finishes we need to stay up in the points.”
Crew Chief Jimmy Fennig on racing at Pocono Raceway:
“We’re on track right now with where we want to be. We had a good run at Loudon last week, and we feel like we’ve learned a few things going into Pocono from our last trip here. But we are really just looking for those nice, consistent finishes. That’s what we need right now.”
Fast Facts
Kurt Busch jumped five spots to fifth in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series standings with his runner-up finish at Loudon last week. He now trails point leader Jimmie Johnson by 325 points.
Busch has been in the top 10 for 18 of 19 weeks thus far in 2005. Busch has three top-10 finishes in his last four races, including top-fives at Loudon and Sonoma.
The No. 97 team brings the blue and yellow of IRWIN Industrial Tools to Pocono for the first time this season (the Sharpie Ford finished 22nd in June after suffering a flat tire while running in the top five).
Busch is the only current driver with two consecutive top-five starts at Pocono, though a tire problem earlier this year and a transmission failure one year ago prevented him from finishing on the lead lap. Busch has finished runner-up twice in nine career races at Pocono.
