KURT BUSCH LABELS COKE 600 AS “MAJOR BIG-PICTURE HURDLE”
Miller Lite Dodge Driver Says His Team Taking A “Realistic Approach” For Series’ Longest Race

CONCORD, N.C. (May 22, 2007) – Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch prefers not to dwell on the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings entering this Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, the 12th points-paying race of the 2007 season. But he is certainly aware of the overall importance of the series’ longest -- and perhaps most demanding – of the 36-race schedule.

“While I’m not sitting here with a hand-held calculator studying the points up and down, I am conscious that this is a huge race as we’re nearing the half-way point before the Chase kicks in,” said Busch, the 2004 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup champion, who is currently seventh in the standings (with 1,325 points), trailing sixth-place Tony Stewart by 50 points and enjoying a 162-point “cushion” on 13th-place Ryan Newman. “I’m smart enough to know that this weekend’s Coke 600 is a major big-picture hurdle for us, but we’re confident we’ll be prepared as possible for the challenge we’re facing there this weekend.

“It (L.M.S.) hasn’t been one of our favorite tracks through the years,” said Busch, who has finished in the top 10 only twice in his 13 career races on the 1.5-mile quad-oval. “By that, I certainly don’t mean that I dislike the track. I love racing there and it’s like another home track for us. But the fact is that we’ve had an awful amount of tough luck there, with pieces breaking, crashes that weren’t our fault and a lot of weird occurrences.”

Busch’s two top-10 finishes at L.M.S entering this weekend were also top-fives; a fourth-place finish in the October 2004 race and a track career best second-place finish in the October 2005 battle. His best career finish in the 600 was the 11th he recorded during his roll to the 2004 points title.

“That finish in the fall of 2005 was a great race for us and pretty different than I’d been accustomed to,” Busch said of the race that featured 15 cautions for 81 laps, mostly due to tire issues. “I was just rolling through most of the night worried about which tire was going to blow out - the right-front or right-rear. We were able to run the entire race without anything out of the ordinary happening. We were able to survive and be there at the end.

“With the rock-hard tires we’re running now, hopefully we won’t have any issues with the Goodyears,” said Busch, who finished 39th and 32nd in last year’s L.M.S races. “After testing there a couple of weeks ago, we’re very confident that will be the case. But as always, it’ll still be about survival again in the 600 on Sunday. With the hard tires and the smaller fuel cells, it’ll be extremely challenging for the pit crews. With all the stops we’ll be making, their role in winning the race will be incredibly important.

“One of the best things we have going for us is the strategy we implemented several weeks back when we were planning for races during May and June,” Busch said. “I guess you could say that we definitely took a realistic approach to the races at Charlotte (L.M.S.) and we think it’ll pay off – at least we hope so.

“During the test we had there, our plan was to narrow it down to a situation of choosing one car for last Saturday night’s All Star race and saving our best car for this weekend’s 600 and that’s exactly what we did,” explained Busch. “We ran the (PRS-0) 73 car last weekend and we’ve saved our Texas car (PSC-078 chassis that Busch was so strong with at Texas Motor Speedway last month) for the 600. It was definitely a smart move to save our strongest stuff for the big points-paying race there this weekend.”

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Busch will again be pulling “double-duty” this weekend as he and his Matt Gimbel-led Penske Truck Rental team will be debuting a brand new car in Saturday’s CARQUEST Auto Parts 300.

“It’s our brand-new PBC-015 chassis and we’ve been burning the midnight oil in getting it ready for this weekend, explained Gimbel, the 34-year-old Northhampton, Pa., native and Temple University engineering graduate who is overseeing the Busch Series programs for all three Penske drivers (Busch, Ryan Newman and Sam Hornish) this season. “We had a great test at Lowe’s last week, but unfortunately we crashed another car in the process.

“I love racing with Kurt and I really think he took it pretty hard when he got loose and the car got away from him,” continued Gimbel, who has led Busch to an incredible record of two wins, six top-five finishes and eight top-10s in his nine career NBS starts. “The great thing about it is that we never intended on racing the car he crashed (PBC-006). It was probably just going to be our backup all along. The big plan was to roll out the new ’15 car’ there this weekend and we’re putting as much advance work into it as possible. We were really strong last May in this race and finished second. We’re coming back to win there on Saturday night and if I was a betting man, I’d certainly have my money on Kurt Busch.”

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Busch’s CARQUEST Auto Parts 300/Coca-Cola 600 schedule gets under way on Thursday with NBS practice set for 1:00 p.m. till 2:00 p.m. NASCAR NEXTEL Cup practice is on tap from 3:00 p.m. till 4:30 p.m. The final NBS practice is set from 6:00 p.m. till 7:00 p.m. The 7:10 p.m. single round of Cup qualifying will allocate all 43 starting spots for Sunday’s Coke 600. There is no scheduled action for NBS or Cup cars on Friday. Saturday’s action-packed schedule includes Cup practice from 3:00 p.m. till 3:50 p.m. and NBS qualifying at 4:05 p.m. The Cup cars get their final practice between 6:20 p.m. and 7:20 p.m. on Saturday, just prior to the 8:00 p.m. start of the CARQUEST Auto Parts 300 (200 laps/300 miles) NBS race. Live coverage of the race will be provided by ESPN2 (TV) and PRN Radio beginning at 7:30 p.m. Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 (400 laps/600 miles) has a 5:40 p.m. EDT start and features live coverage by FOX-TV and PRN Radio beginning at 5:00 p.m. EDT

Notes of interest:

--Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch was already in the “big-picture” mode on Monday when he discussed Saturday night’s incident with brother, Kyle, which eliminated both drivers from the NEXTEL All-Star Challenge. “Whether we’ve talked about it or not, that’s between Kyle and me,” Kurt said. “Like I said on Saturday night after our race was through, it was inevitable that the Busch Brothers would eventually get together in an incident like this. To tell you the truth, I did a lot of soul-searching yesterday during our first day off in so long. I came to the conclusion that if it had to happen, I’m glad we had that first big run-in there on Saturday night. It was a big race, but there were no points on the line. It wasn’t like us getting together and knocking each other out of the 600. There’s no long-term damage as far as the big scheme of things go. It’s not anything that will have lasting impact when we get on down to ‘Chase-time’ in September. So, if it was inevitable we’d have something like this happen, last Saturday night was the best time for it to come down.”

--Looks like the team’s decision to use what crew chief Troy Raker referred to as an “expendable” Miller Lite Dodge Charger in the “All-Star” race was a great move, in light of what happened on Saturday night. “One of the best things we have going for us is the strategy we implemented several weeks back when we were planning for races during May and June,” Kurt said. “I guess you could say that we definitely took a realistic approach to the races at Charlotte (L.M.S.) and we think it’ll pay off – at least we hope so. During the test we had there, our plan was to narrow it down to a situation of choosing one car for last Saturday night’s All Star race and saving our best car for this weekend’s 600 and that’s exactly what we did. We ran the (PRS-0) 73 car last weekend and we’ve saved our Texas car (PSC-078 chassis that Busch was so strong with at Texas Motor Speedway last month) for the 600. It was definitely a smart move to save our strongest stuff for the big points-paying race there this weekend.”

--Kurt will be pulling “double-duty” once again this weekend at Lowe’s Motor Speedway as he is entered in both Saturday’s CARQUEST Auto Parts 300 NBS race and Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 NEXTEL Cup event. Kurt’s Matt Gimbel-led Penske Truck Rental Dodge team will be rolling out a new car for Saturday’s race. “It’s our brand-new PBC-015 chassis and we’ve been burning the midnight oil in getting it ready for this weekend, explained Matt, the 34-year-old Northhampton, Pa., native and Temple University engineering graduate who is overseeing the Busch Series programs for all three Penske drivers (Busch, Ryan Newman and Sam Hornish) this season. “We had a great test at Lowe’s last week, but unfortunately we crashed another car in the process. I love racing with Kurt and I really think he took it pretty hard when he got loose and the car got away from him. The great thing about it is that we never intended on racing the car he crashed (PBC-006). It was probably just going to be our backup all along. The big plan was to roll out the new ’15 car’ there this weekend and we’re putting as much advance work into it as possible. We were really strong last May in this race and finished second. We’re coming back to win there on Saturday night and if I was a betting man, I’d certainly have my money on Kurt Busch.”

--Kurt’s foray into NBS racing has been nothing short of spectacular. Entering Saturday’s CARQUEST 300, Kurt has raced in nine races. He won in his series debut at Texas in April 2006 and also came home the winner in an exciting dual with Robby Gordon on the Watkins Glen road course last August. His overall record in NBS competition sports the two wins, six top-five finishes and eight top-10s in those nine events. He has led laps in eight of the races and claimed the pole position for the Watkins Glen race last year. He has competed in two races this season, finishing fourth in the March race at Las Vegas and coming home eighth in the April Texas Motor Speedway event.

--Kurt will be the special featured “In-Race Reporter” during ESPN’s coverage of Saturday night’s CARQUEST 300 NBS race, providing viewers exciting in-depth behind-the-wheel coverage of the action. The ESPN-TV crew will talk live with Kurt before the race and during the cautions and will be interviewing crew chief Matt Gimbel throughout the 200-lap, 300-mile battle.

--Roy McCauley came to the track on Saturday night to lend support to Kurt, Troy and the Miller Lite Dodge crew. “Amy’s mom has been staying with us, so I was able to come over and support Kurt and the guys,” said Roy, whose wife, Amy, has been valiant in her fight against leukemia. “I’ve certainly missed being with the guys at the track, but everyone has been so supportive, knowing where my priorities have to be right now. One good thing that has come from me not being on the road is that we’ve been able to concentrate on getting our stable of race cars prepared for the upcoming races. We have several new COT cars we’ll be bringing out, including the road course cars. We’re actually in pretty good shape I think. We’re putting the finishing touches on our car Indy (July 29 Brickyard 400). We’re racing our (PSC-) 107 car there. It’s the new car that we debuted out at Phoenix last November. It’s been completely rebuilt and we think it’ll be a great car for Kurt, one that he can win with.”

--Kurt and the Miller Lite Dodge team will be prominently featured at the SPEED STREET festivities in Downtown Charlotte on Friday. Action gets under way at the Miller Lite stage at 6:00 p.m. when Kurt’s pit crew will perform a live pit stop to kick of the roaring evening of excitement at the 3rd & Mint Street location. That will be followed by autograph sessions, live radio interviews and a special drawing for a Race 2 Miami trip giveaway.

--“A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done.” –Dwight D. Eisenhower