Kurt Busch Advance
Richmond International Raceway
September 8-10th, 2005 NEXTEL Cup Series
Chevrolet Rock and Roll 400, Saturday 7:40PM
Crown Royal IROC Series Round III, Thursday @ 7:00PM
Kurt Busch
Team: No. 97 Crown Royal Ford Taurus
Crew Chief: Jimmy Fennig
Chassis: #48 (led 94 laps here one year ago)
Busch on racing at Richmond International Raceway:
"It feels like we’ve had about anything that can go wrong happen at Richmond. Earlier this year we were leading here late in the race when we had a lug nut get caught in the brakes and put us a lap down. Last year in the spring it was an alternator belt that broke when we were leading that took us out of contention, and then in the fall last year we were leading at the end before fuel strategy cost us the win. But Richmond is a terrific racetrack. The side-by-side racing action provides a little bit of balance between a speedway attitude and a short track feel. The track is its own unique length. There’s no other track on the circuit that’s ? of a mile, but the way that the Cup cars run here, it feels like it is a mile in speed, but it feels like it’s a half-mile in handling characteristics. We’re running our Crown Royal paint scheme this weekend, and I’d love to put it in victory lane.”
Crew Chief Jimmy Fennig on racing at Richmond International Raceway:
“We haven’t had finishes at this track like we want, even though Kurt has shown that he really knows his way around some of these short tracks. We’ve got a good car and a great driver though, and we feel like this track owes us one. We’re locked into the ‘Chase’ once we start Saturday night, so we want to go get the win this weekend for the Crown Royal car.”
Fast Facts
Kurt Busch finished 12th last week at California and climbed from seventh to sixth in the NEXTEL Cup point standings. Busch will become the sixth driver to clinch a spot in the “Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup” when he starts the race Saturday night at Richmond. Busch is 456 points behind leader Tony Stewart, but sits only 35 points behind fifth-place Mark Martin.
The defending champion’s younger brother Kyle became history’s youngest Cup winner with his victory at Fontana Sunday night. Ironically, the previous record belonged to Donald Thomas whose older brother Herb was also defending Cup champion when Donald won his race in 1952.
Though Busch’s success at short-tracks cannot be disputed, he has only managed one top-10 finish in nine career starts at Richmond. He has led races in the past three visits to the facility, including 94 laps in this event one year ago when he was forced to pit for fuel in the closing laps. In two of the past three trips Busch suffered mechanical difficulty while leading (a failed alternator belt in the spring of ’04 and a lug nut caught in the brakes earlier this year) that took him out of contention.
Busch’s No. 97 Ford Taurus carries the purple and gold of Crown Royal this weekend at Richmond.
Busch will compete in round three of the Crown Royal IROC series Thursday night at Richmond. Busch, the 2003 IROC Champion, currently sits ninth in the point standings with two races remaining (Richmond this weekend and Atlanta on Oct. 29).
