KURT BUSCH ON A ROLL HEADING INTO ALLSTATE 400 AT THE BRICKYARD
Miller Lite Driver Looking To Continue Momentum As He Seeks Indy NASCAR Win For The “Captain”

INDIANAPOLIS (July 24, 2007) -- Kurt Busch and his Pat Tryson-led Miller Lite Dodge team enter this weekend's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard with both "short-range and long-term goals."

Busch is looking to win this weekend's race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for team owner Roger Penske, while also continuing his impressive rise back towards eligibility for the 2007 "Chase for the Championship."

"Everybody knows about Roger's remarkable open-wheel record at Indy, with his 14 Indianapolis 500 wins," said Busch, the 2004 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup champion who will make his 240th career Cup start and 56th for Penske Racing this weekend at IMS. "He's still looking for his first NASCAR win at Indy and there is nothing more we would like than to give 'the Captain' that elusive victory in our Miller Lite Dodge. Rusty (Wallace, former driver of the No. 2 Penske Miller Dodge) came so close several times and it would be an unbelievable accomplishment if we could finally take Roger and Miller to Victory Lane at Indy."

While Busch hopes to win Sunday's race for Penske, he also looks to continue the amazing comeback trail he is on towards cracking the top-12 in series driver points and becoming eligible for the final 10-race "Chase" to decide the 2007 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup title.

"I really think our Miller Lite Dodge team is starting to hit our stride now and it's certainly coming at the right time," said Busch, who has cut his deficit to 12th by a whopping 159 points in just the last two races. "Pat Tryson has come in and done a tremendous job of steering our ship. He's been super up on the pit box calling the shots during the races and he's managed to get our entire group of guys, myself included, performing like a championship-contending team."

After a 21st-place finish at New Hampshire on July 1, Busch, Tryson and crew battled back to finish a stout third at Daytona the following weekend, then went on to post a solid sixth-place finish after starting from the rear at Chicagoland Speedway in the most recent race. Busch was 15th in the standings after New Hampshire with 1,749 points and he was 236 points behind 12th-place Dale Earnhardt Jr. He enters this weekend's race at IMS 14th in the standings and only 77 points out of 12th.

"So, we're coming into Indy with both short-range and long-term goals," Busch said. "We'd love to be able to get Roger and Miller Lite that first NASCAR Indy win, while we're looking to keep on the competitive roll we've been enjoying over the last few races. The ultimate goal is to make the Chase and we have seven races remaining to get the job done, including Sunday's Brickyard 400."

"It will be one of the biggest thrills of my career to be the crew chief for a Roger Penske-owned team at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend, looking to get Kurt and our Miller Lite Dodge team into Victory Lane," said Tryson, who will make his fifth race as leader of Busch's No. 2 Penske Racing team on Sunday. "When you think of success at Indy, you immediately look at what Roger and his teams have accomplished through the years. We're coming in there hoping to make him, Miller Lite, all the other great sponsors and everyone involved proud of our efforts."

Busch started third and finished 12th in last year's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, but those numbers fail to tell the whole story.

"There certainly was a lot more to it than just a third-place start and a 12th-place finish," Busch explained. "We came in there hoping to get Roger's first NASCAR Indy pole and came within seven-thousandths of a second of pulling it off. We were fast in practice, but had to go out late in the qualifying order. [Battling against the odds of having to go out 25th of 50 drivers, he turned in a lap of 49.247 seconds -- 182.752 mph -- which was faster than any lap the remaining 25 drivers could muster. Jeff Burton was the second driver to hit the track and won the pole with a lap of 49.240 seconds -- 182.778 mph -- and Clint Bowyer was sixth in the order and took the second starting spot with his 49.242-second -- 182.771 mph -- lap.] "The TV guys were reporting that it was 17 degrees cooler when Burton and Bowyer made their runs than when we went out.

"Then we blew a left-front tire in practice and had to start the race from the rear in a backup car. We got off to a decent start and were already up into the top 20 before we had to hit pit road for a vibration. We fell back to the rear again and fought our way back up through the pack. We were fast at times, especially early on in the runs, but when the track got rubbered in our car got tight and we had to hang on. We thought we'd pulled out a top-10 finish, but they had a big crash at the end of the race and had a scoring review that placed us 12th in the final running order."

Last-lap incidents involving Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin, Tony Raines, Greg Biffle, Robby Gordon and Carl Edwards, created a scoring controversy that was debated for more than two hours after the race before a final finishing order was released by NASCAR officials. Busch was listed as finishing 10th in the original finish scored at the race's conclusion. But upon further review, officials moved Hamlin and Raines in front of the No. 2 car, dropping the Miller Lite Dodge team back to a 12th-place finish.

This weekend's schedule at Indianapolis calls for practice sessions on Friday from 1:30-2:30 p.m. and from 3:30-4:30 p.m. A single round of qualifying at 10:10 a.m. on Saturday will determine Sunday's 43-car starting field. Saturday's action also includes final practice sessions after the starting field has been set from 1:30-2:30 p.m. and from 3:30-4:30 p.m. Sunday's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard has a scheduled 2 p.m. start. ESPN and the IMS Radio Network will provide live coverage of the race beginning at 1:30 p.m. EDT.

Notes of Interest:

-- Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch and his Pat Tryson-led team will race their PSC-107 Dodge Charger at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The chassis made its debut last November at Phoenix when Busch started and finished eighth. That was the only time it has raced. "We've taken that car and completely overhauled it with the new body and all," Tryson explained. "We've put all the aero tweaks necessary for Indy and think we'll have a really good package for Kurt to go after the win."

-- A big congratulations to Brian Wilson, team engineer for the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, who married Alison Copper last Saturday in a service held in Mooresville, N.C. The newlyweds are enjoying an unusual honeymoon with Major League Baseball being the theme. First, the happy couple ventured to Atlanta for a Braves game. Then it was off to Dallas for a Texas Rangers game. They close out their celebratory week in Phoenix for a Diamondbacks game, before heading to Indianapolis for this weekend's "back-to-work 400," as Wilson calls it. "Hey, it was her idea to spend our honeymoon like that, not mine," Wilson said. "She's a big sports nut and so am I. I guess that's why we make such a great couple and why I love her so much."

-- Busch is set for a special pre-Indy national radio media tour on Thursday afternoon. He will be a guest on “The Driver’s Seat with John Kernan” at 1 p.m. EDT and will do likewise on the “Jim Rome Show” (radio) at 1:20 p.m. Busch will also see air time on Phoenix’s XTRA-910 AM, KTCK-AM Dallas and ESPN Radio 920 in Las Vegas.

-- Busch will definitely be a busy guy leading up to the action at Indy. He has a Goodyear tire test at Bristol on Wednesday and is scheduled to participate in the annual “Dodge Racers on the Circle” on Thursday night at Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis. Busch is signing autographs at 7:30 p.m. Fans must obtain a ticket at the location in advance of the autograph session.

-- Highlighting Busch's schedule on Thursday is his stint working behind the bar at Champps in downtown Indy. Busch's time as celebrity bartender will raise money for the Lance Armstrong Foundation with all tips collected by Busch from bar patrons being donated to the charity. “This is a really cool opportunity and it means a lot to me personally,” Busch said. “I’m asked all the time about my personal heroes and Lance Armstrong has been a fixture at the top of my list for several years now. I hope we can raise a lot of money there on Thursday night.” Busch's bartending duties are scheduled from approximately 8:45 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. Champps is at 49 W. Maryland Street in downtown Indianapolis. Media opportunities include interviews with Busch and visuals of him serving patrons and raising money for this great cause. For additional information, contact Bridget Callahan of Dig Communications at (312) 577-1768.

-- Grammy Award winning artist Gretchen Wilson is featured in Saturday’s edition of the Miller Lite Rock N Racing concert series. Marking the inaugural Rock N Racing concert at the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, Wilson is scheduled to perform in the IMS infield at 4:45 p.m. Wilson's Miller Lite Rock N Racing performance is the finale to a full day of action on and off the track at IMS. Qualifying for the Brickyard race begins at 10:10 a.m. Practice follows at 1:30-2:30 p.m. and 3:30-4:30 p.m. Public gates at IMS open at 7 a.m. Saturday and Wilson’s performance is free with the $15 gate admission for the day.

-- With seven races remaining to determine the 2007 Chase lineup entering Indy, Busch is 14th in the NEXTEL Cup point standings with 2,074 points. He is 77 points behind 12th-place Dale Earnhardt Jr., who possesses the final “Chase eligible” spot. Penske Racing teammate Ryan Newman is wedged in between in the 13th spot with 2,121 points.

-- Busch is signing autographs at his souvenir hauler on Sunday from 10-10:30 a.m. It marks the 229th time he has been to his souvenir trailer in 232 races to sign autographs for the fans.

-- Great memories from the past. Rusty Wallace, former champion driver whose career behind the wheel of the No. 2 Penske Miller entry is of legendary status, came so close to winning at Indy. From the vault, here is Wallace, now a noted motorsports broadcaster for ESPN, explaining his three runner-up finishes at Indy:

1. The 1995 edition of the Brickyard 400 in which Wallace started 24th, led twice for 22 laps and led with only 30 laps to go en route to a runner-up finish [by a mere 0.37 second] to winner Dale Earnhardt.

"Now that's certainly a race that really sticks out in my mind as one of the biggest fish that ever got away," Wallace said. "We didn't qualify that well, but once the race started the car took off like a rocket. The guys gave me great pit stops all day long. We got to the front and set sail, led a ton of laps and stretched our lead out before having to pit under the green. We had another quick pit stop, but just as we were on our way out of the pits, two cars in front of us collided. That slowed us down enough that Dale got the lead away from us. It came down to a battle between Earnhardt and us. We made a charge and reeled Dale in, closing the gap, but we just ran out of laps. It was a shame because we had them covered. We had the thing won before those two cars got together and blocked pit road in front of us."

2) The 2000 Brickyard 400 when Wallace led with only a handful of laps remaining, only to be overhauled by Bobby Labonte:

“It was another tear-jerker,” Wallace recalled. “We had almost a half straightaway lead pretty late into the thing before the 18 car [Bobby Labonte] got by us and went on to win.”

Wallace enjoyed a two-second lead over Labonte with some 50 laps remaining, but Labonte’s pressure was too much for Wallace to hold off in the final laps. After a lap 121 pit stop for four tires, fuel and a minor chassis adjustment, the stops cycled around on lap 123 with Wallace and the No. 18 car running neck-to-neck. Bill Elliott was third, but more than 4 seconds behind the lead duo. On lap 130, with 16 cars still on the lead lap, Wallace led Labonte by only 0.233 second, with Elliott in third some 4.5 seconds behind.

Wallace, continuously hounded by Labonte, held off the charging Labonte until lap 147 when the No. 18 dove underneath Wallace entering turn one to take the lead. Once the pass was made, the race for the win was practically over. Wallace, relegated to second, was mostly concerned with holding the runner-up finishing spot. Labonte led the final 13 circuits and came home with a 4.229-second victory over runner-up Wallace. Elliott finished third.

“That last set of tires just made me too tight,” Wallace explained. “Bobby caught me, got around me and I just couldn’t do anything with him at that point. We had a great car all day long. Man, it was really flying. I just couldn’t do anything with him. He was right on my bumper all day long and I knew if he ever got around me he might get away from me, but I was tight for about the last third of the race – just too tight. He got underneath me. I drove it in too deep going into turn four there to try to hold him off. My power started taking over at the end of the straightaway, but there’s no way to go side-by-side into turn one. We could do it everywhere else, but not turn one. I knew I had to get the thing freed up in order to beat him, but it just didn’t happen. I wanted to win the thing so bad for Roger [Penske], not really for myself but for Penske. It was another one of those woulda-shoulda-couldas.”

3) The 2002 edition of the Brickyard 400 when Wallace started 35th, but immediately charged to the front and used pit strategy to play a big factor in the race's outcome:

In that race, Wallace used a two-tire pit stop on lap 128 to get his best track position of the day. Mark Martin led on the lap 133 restart, with Tony Stewart second, Wallace third, Kevin Harvick fourth and Elliott fifth. Martin was caught up on the outside and both Stewart and Wallace quickly got around him after the green flag flew again. Wallace got to the inside of Stewart and took the lead on lap 137. Elliott pressured Wallace and finally got around on the inside to take the lead with 10 laps remaining.

A lap 153 caution, the eighth of the day – this one for debris in turn two – bunched up all the cars again. The importance of track position, coupled by the mandate of a single-file restart, saw no takers hit pit road during the yellow. Elliott got a great jump on Wallace, but Wallace got a great restart over third-place Matt Kenseth when the green flag flew again. The top three stayed the same for the final circuits, with Elliott energizing a 1.269-second winner over Wallace.

“It was yet another one of those really great second-place finishes where with just a little luck we could have put our name on that big trophy,” Wallace said. “We went from 35th up to 10th in nothing flat. We four-tired it and got way in the back – two-tired it and got back up front. It was another ‘close, but no cigar experience’ for us. I fought a real tight car all day long. We two-tired it and took a bunch of bite out the last stop and the old hot rod took off then. We took the lead and I really thought we were gonna win it, but I got a little loose up off of [turn] two and Elliott got me.

“It was a bitter pill to swallow, but I was so happy for Bill Elliott winning the thing. He and I go way back and he’s definitely paid his dues. I even went to Victory Lane to personally congratulate him on his big win. But at the end of the day, it was yet another one that got away.”