BUSCH SAYS NEXT FEW WEEKS MOST PIVOTAL OF 2007 NASCAR SEASON
Miller Lite Dodge Team “Going The Extra Mile” In Preparation For Upcoming Races

LAS VEGAS (March 6, 2007) – Kurt Busch and his Roy McCauley-led Miller Lite Dodge racing team could be found on Tuesday (March 6) testing at Southern National Raceway Park, a four-tenths-mile asphalt oval located in Lucama, N.C. Busch explained why:

“We’re going the extra mile in preparing for the upcoming races, particularly for the Car of Tomorrow debut in the March 25 race at Bristol,” said Busch, who finished seventh at California Speedway in the circuit’s most recent race to climb to 19th in the NEXTEL Cup points after two events. “We tested at Bristol last week (Feb. 28-March 1) and felt like we needed more track time with our new Dodge Avenger.

“I think it’s really starting to hit home with most of the teams as to the monumental importance of the new car,” Busch continued. “Just from the short-term impact, we’re talking about three of four races where we’re racing the car between Bristol and Phoenix. We’re hoping to be at the top of our game with the new Dodge Avenger (COT) and getting the additional track time is very important. You could say that the next few weeks could play out to be the most important and pivotal of the 2007 season.”

While Busch and crew were focusing on improving their Dodge Avenger during the Tuesday test, they realize that this weekend’s UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway offers the most immediate concern.

“I think that our test at Vegas back in January provided us with some great data to use, not only for this weekend’s race, but on the intermediate tracks in general,” Busch said. “It certainly was helpful at California where we came home with a strong top-10 finish.

“There are so many different variables to take into consideration as we head back out to Vegas,” said Busch, who has one top-five finish and two top-10s in five past LVMS Cup races entering this weekend. “The new surface is lightning fast and we’ll have a harder left-side tire this time around. We’re bringing out our Penske Truck Rental Dodge and competing in Saturday’s Busch race this weekend. It’s always a lot of fun to race that car, but we’re actually hoping to gain a lot of knowledge about the new Goodyears that we can use over on the Cup side.

“They’ll have us running the 13-gallon fuel cells this weekend in hopes of keeping the tire situation in check,” Busch said. “That was a help in the races at Charlotte (Lowe’s Motor Speedway) last year and I’m sure it’ll work out at Vegas, too. The bottom line is that it’ll take some time for the new surface to wear and weather and NASCAR is taking the appropriate measures to deal with it, just like they always do.

“I’m really excited about our chances at Vegas,” said Busch, a Las Vegas native and graduate of Durango High School. “We had two cars there for the test back in January. We had our ’78 car’ and our ’80 car.’ The 78 chassis was a little bit on the tight side and the 80 was a little on the loose side. We raced a car that was almost an exact copy of the 80 at Fontana and we were really pleased with the outcome. Now we’re headed back to Vegas to race that 80 car and are confident we’ll have a ride that’s capable of getting the job done.”

Crew chief McCauley concurs with his driver on all points he made.

“We’ve been looking at the significance of the Car of Tomorrow ever since the schedule was announced,” McCauley said. “Right out of the box, with the races at Bristol, Martinsville and Phoenix, a team could really take off in the points and all – or they could find themselves in a deep hole and trying to dig out.

“We’ll test a couple of more times in the next few weeks,” McCauley stated. “We’re for sure going down to Greenville-Pickens Speedway early during the week of the Bristol race. We’re seriously considering going up to Winchester Speedway in Indiana to test. It’s about as close as you can get to the Bristol track as for the layout and the banking. The big problem there, though, has been with the weather – the snow and all.

“We certainly know the importance of getting our fleet of new Miller Lite Dodge Avengers as competitive as possible,” said McCauley. “This new car will be raced in 44 percent of all the races this year and that definitely can make – or break – a team’s overall season.

“As for Las Vegas, we’re hoping to add to the momentum that we came out of California with,” McCauley said. “All the hard work put into our effort with the new Dodge Charger front end package paid dividends. We were faced with a harder tire there at California, too, but we were able to deal with it. I think Kurt may be correct with his suggestion that running the Busch car out there can give us information we need relative to tire pressures and so forth.

“We do have another very competitive Miller Lite Dodge Charger ready for this weekend. It’s the same car that Kurt liked so well back during the January test. Kurt did a tremendous job driving the car at California and we all know how much he wants to do well out in his hometown. Like Kurt says, the next few weeks along the circuit just may be the most important on the entire 2007 NEXTEL Cup schedule.”

Busch’s hectic Las Vegas track schedule sees him practicing his Penske Truck Rental Dodge Busch car in Friday sessions from 8:30 a.m. till 9:30 a.m. and from 10:20 a.m. till 11:20 a.m. He practices his Miller Lite Dodge in NEXTEL Cup practice from 11:30 a.m. till 1:00 p.m. NEXTEL Cup qualifying is set for 3:10 p.m. local time on Friday, followed by Busch qualifying at 5:05 p.m. Saturday’s schedule calls for NEXTEL Cup practice sessions from 9:00 a.m. till 9:50 a.m. and 10:20 a.m. till 11:20 a.m. The 200-lap, 300-mile Sam’s Town 300 NBS race is set to get the green flag at 12:00 noon (3:00 p.m. Eastern) on Saturday. Sunday’s UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 has a 1:30 p.m. local start on Sunday and features live coverage by FOX-TV and PRN Radio.

Notes of interest:

--Kurt Busch, crew chief Roy McCauley and the Miller Lite/Penske Racing Dodge team are testing today (Tuesday, 3/6) at Southern National Raceway Park, a four-tenths-mile asphalt oval located near Kenley, N.C. “We’re going the extra mile in preparing for the upcoming races, particularly for the Car of Tomorrow debut in the March 25 race at Bristol,” Kurt explained. “We tested at Bristol last week (Feb. 28-March 1) and felt like we needed more track time with our new Dodge Avenger (the COT). We’re hoping to be at the top of our game with the new Dodge Avenger and getting the additional track time is very important. Just from the short-term impact, we’re talking about three of four races where we’re racing the car between Bristol and Phoenix. You could say that the next few weeks could play out to be the most important and pivotal of the 2007 season.”

--Kurt is a scheduled featured guest on tonight’s (Tuesday, 3/6) edition of “NASCAR Live” on MRN Radio. Kurt is set to be on from 7:40 p.m. till 8:00 p.m. EST. Originating live from the MRN studios at DAYTONA U.S.A., NASCAR LIVE gives listeners an opportunity to talk directly to the stars of NASCAR. Host Eli Gold takes calls directly from the fans. With Eli announcing tonight’s Nashville Predators game, Mike “Bag-man” Bagley will be sitting in for Eli. The show can be heard live on MRN Radio affiliates across the nation and on Sirius Satellite Radio’s NASCAR Channel 128. The program will re-air on Sirius on Wednesday morning at 4:00 a.m. EST.

--Kurt will be returning to Busch Series action in this weekend’s Sam’s Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “We’ll be racing a brand new car that we tested with at Vegas back in February,” offered Penske Racing NBS crew chief Matt Gimbel. “Since our Busch effort sees all of our cars running the number 12 this year, it might take a few laps to get used to Kurt driving the bright yellow No. 12 Penske Truck Rental Dodge. This is our chassis No. 13 (PBC-013), which is good luck in my mind. I’ve never been a superstitious person. We probably put 80 or so laps on the car during the Vegas test, with Kurt logging about 70 percent of those laps. We learned quite a bit about setups during the Vegas test that we were able to apply in the race at California (the 2/24 Stater Bros. 300 at California Speedway with Penske Racing teammate Sam Hornish driving). We learned additional information at California that we’ll be able to apply when we get back to Vegas this weekend.”

--Kurt never competed in NBS racing until the 2006 season and when he did, he took the circuit by storm, winning in his very first start. Starting from the seventh position in the April race at Texas Motor Speedway, Kurt drove his No. 39 Matt Gimbel-prepared Penske Truck Rental Dodge to an impressive win, leading the final 70 circuits around the 1.5-mile track. Kurt would be looked upon as a top winning candidate every time he participated on the circuit. In seven races, he won twice (including an exciting dual with Robby Gordon on the Watkins Glen International road course), recorded five top-five finishes and six top 10s, and claimed the pole for his lone road course start. Kurt led laps in every race, led the most laps in three races and led 27.0 percent of all possible laps. Even with only seven starts, he finished 39th in points, finishing ahead of 17 drivers who had competed in more races. “We had a lot of fun running our Penske Truck Rental Dodge last season,” said Kurt. “I can’t wait to get out to Vegas and race with Matt and the guys again. We had a great test out there, I thought.”

--Kurt is one of the featured drivers in this weekend’s exciting new Direct TV Hot Pass program. The program will feature Kurt and the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge during Sunday’s race only and will have both a video (on board camera and track cameras) and audio element (team radio communications) to the program. Real-time telemetry is also scheduled to be part of this offering. There will be a dedicated Direct TV channel for this Sunday’s race for the No. 2 car (Channel 795). The production will consist of a booth announcer, Mike Wallace (the racer, not the news reporter), and pit reporter, Matt Yocum. Other featured cars this week will be the No. 9, No. 11, No. 44 and No. 99. For additional information, log on to their site at http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/global/contentPage.jsp?assetId=P3980112

--Kurt sightings…last Sunday afternoon at Disney World with figure-skating legend Michelle Kwan and baseball hall-of-famer Jim Palmer…this Friday night in the Rain Nightclub at the Palms Hotel, hanging out with popular four-piece rock band Papa Roach.

--What would a Vegas NEXTEL Cup win mean to Kurt? “You know, if I was to win at Vegas on Sunday, oh man, I’d come unglued,” Kurt said recently. “It’s my big race. A lot of people like going to Vegas, doing the race and the city in one huge weekend with so much going on. It’s my hometown. I used to haul (rear) through that desert parking lot before the big track even existed after a race at the local short track. You know…I saw it built from the ground up. With the track being completely redesigned now, it’d be extra special to win this weekend. I want to win at all the tracks and hopefully I’ll be around long enough to win at most of them. But, Vegas is No. 1 on my hit list right now.”

--“Energy and persistence conquer all things.” –Benjamin Franklin