KURT BUSCH RIDING WAVE OF COSISTENCY ENTERING NEW HAMPSHIRE
Miller Lite Dodge Driver Has Five Consecutive Top-10 Finishes Entering LENOX Industrial Tools 300

LOUDON, N.H. (July 11, 2006) – Kurt Busch and his Roy McCauley-led Miller Lite Dodge Team picked up their fifth consecutive top-10 finish in Sunday’s USG Sheetrock 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. They enter this weekend’s action at New Hampshire International Speedway looking for more success – much more.

“We started off the season struggling somewhat on the intermediate tracks, but we’ve made very noticeable progress,” said Busch, who has recorded five of his seven total top-10 finishes for the season in the last five races. “When you think back about our races at California (finished 16th), (Las) Vegas (finished 16th), Atlanta (finished 37th) and Texas (finished 34th) and see that we finished ninth at Michigan and eighth at Chicago, you have to think that maybe we’re finally turning the corner on getting that type of track figured out.

“I’ll bet we didn’t get much TV time at Chicago because we started 19th and pretty much ran there for three-quarters of the race,” said Busch, who enters New Hampshire with a 5.4 average finish over the last five races this season. “We got the car running the best it was all day long after our final pit stop and that’s what really paid off. It’s frustrating to be back there racing your brains out just to get a top-10, but it’s a learning curve we’re going through and we’re making steady progress.

“Now we’re heading into a stretch of tracks where we should run really well on – this week at Loudon, then back to Pocono and on to Indy for the Brickyard (400),” said Busch, currently 13th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings and 132 points behind 10th-place Jeff Gordon. “We’re continuing to get stronger and stronger overall as a team and we look to continue that momentum that we’ve been building since the end of May.”

Busch has won three times on the 1.058-mile New Hampshire track, twice in Cup and once in NASCAR's truck series. At Pocono, he finished second in June and he has one victory and three runner-up finishes to his credit at the 2.5-mile track.

McCauley, never one to make any bold predictions, is anticipating his team’s competitiveness to continue to grow.

“I would want Kurt over any other driver in the garage area in our cars right now,” McCauley said. “We’ve grown so much for a first-year team and Kurt deserves so much credit for the positive course we’re on. We continue to learn together as a team each and every week.

“Kurt has shown such tremendous poise, particularly over the last couple of months,” McCauley offered. “We’ve been able to exercise patience when needed and mount a charge to get everything we can out of each race. I made it a point to thank Kurt for his poise after Sunday’s race at Chicago. He stayed level-headed all day long and worked with us making all the adjustments. He is relentless and just keeps on digging and digging.

“Just like I’ve said many times before, we’re taking it one race at a time,” McCauley offered. “I think we all looked at Chicago as a test to see how we stood. Some might call it a hurdle we were looking to overcome, but I looked at it as a challenge that we were able to make good on.

“We tested at Milwaukee in preparation for this weekend’s race at New Hampshire and Kurt’s made that scenario pay off before,” McCauley said of a practice that helped lead Busch to a sweep of both race wins at N.H.I.S. during the 2004 season. “Kurt has proven to be a great flat-track racer – one of the best ever. We know how much potential we can have at Pocono. Our second (-place finish) there back last month was a big catalyst for the strength we’ve been showing recently.

“We’re taking it one race at a time, but I’ll admit that the next few races offer us a great opportunity as far as the big picture goes,” McCauley concluded, referring to the team’s goal of getting up into the top 10 in points and becoming eligible for the 2006 “Chase for the Championship.”

Busch’s overall Cup record at N.H.I.S. sports two wins, four top-five finishes and five top-10s in 10 races. He started fifth and finished second in last June’s race there.

“Tony Stewart definitely had the car to beat in that race last year and I’m sure he’ll be plenty strong there this time around,” Busch offered. “That was a really fun race. Kyle was up there duking it out with us near the end. It was fun looking at him through the front windshield and looking at him in the mirror a little bit, too. Tony just had a strong car that was running smooth. We had an opportunity to pass, we took it, and he ended up getting back by us and won it.”

This weekend’s schedule at New Hampshire International Speedway calls for Cup practice on Friday from 11:35 p.m. till 1:05 p.m. Cup qualifying is scheduled for 3:10 p.m. Saturday’s schedule calls for Cup practice sessions from 8:40 a.m. till 9:40 a.m. and from 10:05 a.m. till 10:50 a.m. Sunday’s LENOX Industrial Tools 300 (300 laps, 317.4 miles) has a 2:10 p.m. EDT starting time. TNT-TV and MRN Radio will provide live coverage.

Notes of interest:

-- Kurt Busch and his Roy McCauley-led Miller Lite Team will be testing their PRS-092 and PRS-096 Dodge Chargers in testing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway Tuesday and Wednesday (7/11-7/12). The “92 car” was raced at Martinsville in April and the “96 car” was raced at Las Vegas back in March.

-- KB, Roy and the Miller Lite Dodge Team currently enjoying a streak of five consecutive top-10 finishes (second at Pocono; ninth at Michigan; fifth at Infineon; third at Daytona; and eighth at Chicago). The team has produced a 5.4 average finish in the races dating back to the 6/11 race at Pocono.

-- While KB recorded his fifth consecutive top-10 finish of the season at Chicagoland Speedway on Sunday, he actually lost some ground in his bid to make it into the top 10 in the NEXTEL Cup point standings. With drivers such as Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch finishing in front of the No. 2 team, the deficit to 10th actually grew. Coming into the race, KB trailed 10th-place Denny Hamlin by 103 points. After 18 races have now been completed during the 2006 season, he now trails 10th-place Gordon by 132 points. “We have some good tracks coming up – places where we can continue to make up ground as far as the big picture goes,” Roy said.

-- KB, Roy and team will be racing their PRS-103 Miller Lite Dodge at New Hampshire this weekend. The team debuted the car at Phoenix in April, where a top-10 run was halted by a loose window net. The car was also raced at Richmond in May, where KB was running third when a right-front tire forced him to pit under the green. Two ensuing pit road penalties cost him another potential fine finish. The team tested the car at the Milwaukee Mile on June 27 in preparation for this weekend’s action at N.H.I.S.

-- With his sixth-place finish in last Saturday’s USG Durock 300 at Chicagoland, KB now has an unbelievable 3.2 average finish in his brief NBS racing career. In five races, he has a win, a second, a third, a fourth and a sixth. KB’s next NBS run is scheduled for the Aug. 12 Zippo 200 road course race at Watkins Glen International, which will air on NBC and MRN at 2 p.m., ET.

-- The “Kenseth Scale” – Many garage insiders continue to compare KB’s run toward making the Chase this year to the remarkable comeback Matt Kenseth had in 2005 in making the cut. After finishing second at Chicago in the 18th event last season, Kenseth was 16th in the standings, trailing 10th-place KB by 202 points.

-- “The only reason some people get lost in thought is because it’s unfamiliar territory.” –Paul Fix