KURT BUSCH LOOKING FOR MORE DARLINGTON SPECIAL MEMORIES
Miller Lite Dodge Driver Recalls Exciting 2003 Race & First Career Cup Pole On "Track Too Tough To Tame"

DARLINGTON, S.C. (May 9, 2006) - Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch returns to the historical 1.366-mile Darlington Raceway for Saturday's Dodge Charger 500 hoping to add to his list of special memories of racing on the "Track Too Tough To Tame."

"We're still looking for our first win at Darlington, but that runner-up finish there in the spring race of 2003 was about as close as you can get without going to Victory Lane," said Busch of the March 16, 2003, Carolina Dodge Dealers 400. Busch and Ricky Craven staged a classic battle that saw Craven win by only 0.002 seconds, the closest finish in the history of electronic timing. "To this day, every time I think back about that race I have to say that it was pretty incredible.

"Craven and I were both in the same state of mind in that we both wanted to win, but neither of us was going to wreck the other guy," said Busch. "I think it was the ultimate example of two guys racing as hard as they could to win a race. If that same situation played out again a hundred times, 99 of them would probably end with a big crash before they got to the finish line.

"I guess the other big Darlington highlight so far was winning my first career Cup pole there back in 2001," said Busch, who joined the late Davey Allison as the only two rookie drivers to win pole positions on the tricky 1.366-mile egg-shaped oval. "It came as such a surprise. I wasn't even thinking about the pole that day. I was just focused on running a good lap. It was certainly a thrill to win my first pole on such an historical track as Darlington and for such a prestigious race as the old Southern 500."

While many competitors openly state their disdain for racing at Darlington, such is certainly not the case with Busch.

"I've always loved racing at Darlington," said Busch, whose career record on the track, also known as "The Lady In Black," sports one top-five finish, four top-10 finishes and one pole position in nine races. "From way back in my short-track days, I can remember the place being so full of history. I always thought that it would be so cool to race there.

"When I got my first opportunity to race at Darlington back in the spring race of 2001, I found out that everything I'd heard about the place was absolutely true," Busch continued. "It is such a challenging track and so demanding from a mental standpoint. You have to get your car setup right to deal with the unbelievably abrasive surface. That's just part of the equation, because then you have to apply a mental focus to each and every lap. You really do race the racetrack lap after lap in hopes of being there up front to race the other competitors in the final few laps."

Busch insists that his background of racing on the short tracks out West has been extremely beneficial in becoming one of the most competitive drivers at Darlington today.

"Tire management is so critical at Darlington and I was fortunate to have gotten a pretty good grasp for that aspect of racing years ago when we ran the (Las Vegas) Bullring and several other tracks on the Southwest Tour," said Busch," who won the 1999 NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Series title by posting six wins, 11 top-five finishes and 12 top-10 finishes in 18 races. "If there ever was a 'college of effective tire management,' the days back then of racing on so many grainy, abrasive and worn out race tracks certainly were it.

"We've actually been a little stronger than our statistics show at Darlington, I think," Busch continued. "We've gotten innocently involved in a few crashes that cost us some more good finishes.

"Hopefully, we can add some more special memories to our Darlington record there this weekend," said Busch.

This weekend's Dodge Charger 500 schedule gets under way on Friday with practice from 12:05 p.m. till 1:35 p.m. Qualifying on Friday afternoon at 3:40 p.m. will set the entire 43-car starting field. The final "Happy Hour" practice session for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup competitors is set for Friday from 6:30 p.m. till 7:30 p.m. Saturday's Dodge Charger 500 has a 6:55 p.m. start. The 367-lap, 501.3-mile battle features live coverage by FOX-TV and MRN Radio beginning at 6:30 p.m. EDT.

Notes of interest:

--Kurt Busch and his Roy McCauley-led team will be racing their PRS-053 Miller Lite Dodge Charger at Darlington this weekend. KB raced the car in March at Atlanta, where he was forced into the wall after a restart while running third. "It's one of our strongest cars and we hope to see just how strong it is this weekend at Darlington," Roy said. "We ran the car back through the fab shop after Atlanta and it's practically brand new. We took it over to Rockingham a few weeks back (on April 17th) to get some test time on an equally abrasive surface as we'll face at Darlington. Kurt's one of the best drivers out there when it comes to tire management and we're looking to have a strong race there on Saturday night."

--It's still on the highlight reels, the unbelievable finish of the 2003 spring race at Darlington.

"I think it was the ultimate example of two guys racing as hard as they could to win a race," KB said of the classic battle that he and Ricky Craven staged. Craven won by only 0.002 seconds, the closest finish in the history of electronic timing. "If that same situation played out again a hundred times, 99 of them would probably end with a big crash before they got to the finish line."

"I went into turn three trying to give Craven the impression that I was gonna go high, yet I cut the wheel down low," KB said immediately after the incredible finish. "I was trying to make sure I made it as wide as I could getting in so he couldn't commit to a line. When you commit to a line quicker, obviously, you can generate speed through the corner. So I went into three low and there was no way I could hold it down there. The car pushed up a little bit and I knew he'd go low, so I didn't want to come back across his nose because I would have spun out and finished the last car on the lead lap. So I had to just carry the momentum towards the high side and get as much throttle-on time as I could. He started rubbing the left-rear, the door, the A-post, and as soon as he got up to my front tire it yanked the wheel out of my hand and yanked my car completely into his. That killed my momentum and then we stayed locked from there. I grabbed as much of the wheel as I could and finally yanked it back to the right to get off of him by the time we got to the start-finish line, but my momentum had been killed after that. It was just a hard-fought battle."

--KB claimed his first career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup pole position in qualifying for the Mountain Dew Southern 500 on Sept. 2, 2001. He toured the 1.366-mile egg-shaped oval in 29.263 seconds for an average speed of 168.048 mph. It came in qualifying for his 32nd career Cup race. "It came as such a surprise," said KB, who joined the late Davey Allison as only the second rookie driver to win a Darlington pole. "I wasn't even thinking about the pole that day. I was just focused on running a good lap. It was certainly a thrill to win my first pole on such an historical track as Darlington and for such a prestigious race as the old Southern 500."

--Speaking of qualifying.Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch has started all 10 races in 2006 from a top-15 starting position and is the only driver to do so. At Darlington, KB has a starting average of 13.0 in the eight races where qualifying was held. He also started from the pole spot in the November Darlington race of his 2004 championship season. Weather forced officials to start the field based on points and KB was the points leader at the time.

--"Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory." -Albert Schweitzer