HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MR. BUSCH:
Kyle Busch, the youngest full-time competitor on the NEXTEL Cup circuit, will celebrate his 20th birthday on Monday. The Raybestos Rookie has scored one pole position, a runner-up showing and two top-10 finishes this season. Busch, pilot of the No. 5 Kellogg's Chevrolets, is the youngest-ever driver to score a Cup Series pole and currently leads the tour's rookie-of-the-year standings by 11 points over Travis Kvapil.
MAKE IT A HALF-DOZEN:
Car owner Rick Hendrick has five Cup Series victories at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, tying him with Bud Moore, Junior Johnson and the Wood Brothers for third on the all-time list. Only Richard Childress (9), Ranier Racing (6) and Dale Earnhardt Inc. (6) have more. The NEXTEL Cup Series will visit Talladega this weekend.
BUSCH PULLING 'DEGA DOUBLE:
Busch will once again pull double duty this weekend, piloting Hendrick Motorsports' No. 5 Chevrolet in NASCAR Busch Series competition at Talladega. Saturday will mark Busch's second superspeedway appearance of 2005 in the car after starting the season-opening event at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.
GUSTAFSON PICKS CHASSIS 302:
Alan Gustafson, crew chief of the No. 5 Kellogg's Racing team, has selected Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 302 for this weekend's NEXTEL Cup festivities at Talladega. Busch drove the car in winter testing at Daytona International Speedway.
UNRESTRICTED AT SUPERSPEEDWAYS:
Looking back over the five most recent NEXTEL Cup races at restrictor-plate tracks, Hendrick Motorsports has posted three victories, including three of the last four. In those same five events, Hendrick teams have amassed seven top-five results and 10 top-10 finishes -- the most in both categories amongst any team.
KYLE BUSCH, DRIVER OF THE NO. 5 KELLOGG'S CHEVROLETS:
(ON HAVING THE YELLOW "ROOKIE STRIPE" AT TALLADEGA.) "Talladega is a wild-card race. As a rookie, it's going to be a question of which veterans will work with a guy with the yellow stripe on the back of his car. I'm planning to use my head and not try to be the hero. Mistakes are costly and I know that. I will be racing both the Cup and Busch races this weekend so I'll have some extra track time."
BUSCH:
(WHAT'S THE KEY TO A SOLID PERFORMANCE AT TALLADEGA?) "Talladega is all about having good luck. You can pretty much take the Kellogg's Tonymobile out there, qualify it and win the race if you can keep it out of trouble [LAUGHS]. Really, concentration will be key because it is a long time to be running three-wide at those speeds."
(NOTE: The Tonymobile is a customized 23-foot long, 13-foot high "character vehicle" that brings to life many of the famous characters that represent Kellogg's cereals. Learn more at www.tonymobile.com.)
BUSCH: (ON QUALIFYING AT TALLADEGA.)
"Of course, the goal is to qualify up front because you stand a better chance of staying there longer before getting shuffled back into the pack. With the restrictor plate, qualifying doesn't matter too much because you can go from hero to zero in one lap. It's all in the draft."
BUSCH:
(WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DAYTONA AND TALLADEGA?) "The difference between Talladega and Daytona track-wise is that Talladega is a lot broader. There are at least two more grooves at Talladega, the corners are a lot longer and you can use a lot sleeker of a car, whereas in Daytona you need more downforce."
ALAN GUSTAFSON, CREW CHIEF OF THE NO. 5 KELLOGG'S CHEVROLETS:
(ON TALLADEGA.) "We had a good car at Daytona and, unfortunately, got caught up in a wreck early in the race so we never really got to flex our muscle in a restrictor-plate race. We hope for the best at tracks like this because it seems like a roll of the dice -- being in the right place at the right time."
GUSTAFSON:
(ON GAINING GROUND IN THE NEXTEL CUP STANDINGS.) "We're 25th in points right now and, rookie team or not, that isn't where we want to be. The plan is to be on the money each weekend and hopefully luck will be on our side. The Kellogg's team is a lot better than our points position reflects."
