KURT BUSCH “SUPER IMPRESSED” WITH NEW CREW CHIEF PAT TRYSON
Miller Lite Dodge Driver Looking To “Really Turn Things Around” With Strong New Hampshire Run

LOUDON, N.H. (June 26, 2007) – Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch managed to finish 22nd in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350, his first race with new crew chief Pat Tryson calling the shots, but the 2004 NASCAR champ left the California road course with extremely positive first impressions of his team’s new leader.

“I was super impressed with Pat’s leadership abilities and we really have tremendous confidence with him up on the box calling the shots during the race,” said Busch, who remains 16th in the NEXTEL Cup point standings and 171 points out of “Chase eligibility” with 10 races remaining to make the cut. “In Sunday’s race at Sonoma, we had a set strategy but all that changed when we got tagged by the 42 car (eventual race winner Juan Pablo Montoya) and wound up way on back in the pack.

“Pat showed that he is a veteran leader out there and was able to quickly adapt to another game plan,” Busch said. “Who would have ever thought that the last 40 laps of that race would be run totally caution-free? If there had been another caution and a few more laps run under the yellow, we could have possibly slipped back in there and stolen us a top-10 finish.”

Busch started 14th in last Sunday’s race and he held down the seventh spot for most of the first third of the race. The team’s original strategy was to go the distance on only two pit stops, dividing the 110-lap race into thirds. The team had made its first stop on Lap 36 and the original schedule called for Busch’s final stop to occur between Laps 72-75. However, that all changed after the race returned to green on Lap 59 after the sixth caution period of the race.

Busch had been battling Montoya for the ninth position for several laps, with the two drivers swapping spots back and forth. That scuffle ended on Lap 61 when Busch led Montoya into the tight Turn 11 hairpin turn. Montoya tagged Busch’s right-rear quarter panel, sending the No. 2 Dodge into a spin. By the time he could regain control and get back in the running, Busch had dropped from ninth to 23rd in the running order.

“Pat saw that we’d fallen really behind and had the foresight to change courses and try to get us out of the hole we had dug ourselves into,” Busch said of Tryson’s call to hit pit road again for tires and fuel on Lap 68 under the seventh caution period of the race. “He was willing to change from our original strategy and take the gamble to get even more out of the day than we really deserved.”

Busch fell to 25th in the running order after the Lap 70 restart, but with other drivers hitting pit road for their final fuel stops, he suddenly found himself back up to eighth with only 20 laps remaining in the race.

“As it turned out, we didn’t get the caution laps we needed and we had to hit pit road again for another splash of fuel,” said Busch. “We wound up finishing about where we would have if we’d stayed the course with the original strategy. Even after having to pit again, we came back out running right there with the 12 car (teammate Ryan Newman, who finished 20th) at the end.

“Pat is a great big-picture thinker and a super strategist and that is a much-needed addition to our team,” said Busch. “It is a big load taken off my back when I can focus on just driving the car and have the utmost confidence in the guy calling the shots on top of the box. Pat will be a great leader of our team and he’s already performed impressively in my eyes.

“While we are moving forward and Pat is getting entrenched as our leader, we certainly need to point out what a great job that Roy McCauley did for our team as crew chief until his wife became ill and what an incredible piece of work Troy Raker was able to provide as an interim crew chief,” said Busch. “I have tremendous respect for Roy and Troy and I am so proud that they will continue to be major players within our team.”

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Busch, Tryson and crew now turn their focus to New Hampshire International Speedway for this weekend’s LENOX Tools 300. Busch’s career Cup record on the 1.058-mile flat oval track boasts two wins, four top-five finishes and five top-10s in 12 races. He started fifth and won in his lone NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series start at the track back in 2000.

“We’ve had a lot of success at New Hampshire through the years and we’re looking forward to racing the new Car of Tomorrow there this weekend,” said Busch. “We were really strong with our COT cars at Richmond and out on the flat track at Phoenix. We look to be just as strong or even stronger this weekend up at Loudon (N.H.I.S.) and really turn things around.”

This weekend’s schedule at New Hampshire International Speedway calls for Cup practice on Friday from 12:00 noon till 1:30 p.m. Cup qualifying is scheduled for 3:10 p.m. Saturday’s schedule calls for Cup practice sessions from 9:00 a.m. till 9:50 a.m. and from 11:45 a.m. till 12:45 p.m. Sunday’s LENOX Industrial Tools 300 (300 laps, 317.4 miles) has a 2:30 p.m. EDT starting time. TNT-TV and MRN Radio will provide live coverage.

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Notes of interest:

--Kurt Busch and his Pat Tryson-led Penske Racing Team will be racing their PSC-508 Miller Lite Dodge Avenger in this weekend’s action at New Hampshire International Speedway. The team debuted the car in the first Car of Tomorrow (COT) race at Bristol on 3/28 and the car has been completely reworked since that race.

--In only one race, Kurt has certainly gained an abundance of confidence in new crew chief Pat Tyson. “Pat is a great big-picture thinker and a super strategist and that is a much-needed addition to our team,” Kurt said. “It is a big load taken off my back when I can focus on just driving the car and have the utmost confidence in the guy calling the shots on top of the box. Pat will be a great leader of our team and he’s already performed impressively in my eyes. While we are moving forward and Pat is getting entrenched as our leader, we certainly need to point out what a great job that Roy McCauley did for our team as crew chief until his wife became ill and what an incredible piece of work Troy Raker was able to provide as an interim crew chief. I have tremendous respect for Roy and Troy and I am so proud that they will continue to be major players within our team.”

--Kurt Busch was the special featured guest on today’s weekly NASCAR Teleconference call.

Following are some of the highlights of his conversation with media from across the country.

Q: What’s the outlook for gaining points at a track where you’ve had a lot of success?

KURT: I enjoy running at New Hampshire. The track has been kind to me in the past, especially with the run we do need to make it’s a good place to get started. We just need to find little things here and there every week that has hampered our progress. It’s been an interesting season thus far. We’ve had some great success. Almost won a race at Texas, Phoenix, Daytona, led the most laps at Charlotte. So good things all around, but we just need to start putting exclamation points at the end of these races so we can come home in the top five and gather the points that we think we deserve.

Q: You’ve had some success at New Hampshire. Is this a spring board to the championship for you?

KURT: It’s definitely a great race that you need to run well in just because the first race at New Hampshire leads into the second race at New Hampshire, which is the start of the Chase. If you have success in July, it usually translates into a good race in September. The way you have to look at all the Chase races is, “Hey, if we race in the spring time at Phoenix, you better be on your game to gather all the notes that you can because you have to race at Phoenix during the Chase. So the first race is always an important race to start off strong.

Q. In terms of this being a C.O.T. race, does that wipe away any advantage, you know, any of you who have had success here at this track, does that kind of neutralize that?

KURT: Um, so far it's been 50-50 of the tracks where we've run the C.O.T. cars. As far as the way that some of your past leads right into the new car for the good and then it goes for the bad as well. So there's new things and new concerns that come up each and every week with the car. And, so far, on the flat tracks like Richmond and Phoenix, we've done well at Penske Racing. So we feel like that can help us this weekend with starting off pretty good out of the gate with our C.O.T. Dodge Avenger.

Q. Did you test at Milwaukee, I mean, that kind of similar venue?

KURT: We tested there last year, but we feel like the notes that we've gained from the most recent races will help us. And we just didn't have time to head up to Milwaukee these last couple of weeks with the grueling schedule that we're on.

Q. Is everyone kind of waiting to see what NASCAR does or how they react, in terms of the sanctions they take against the 24 and 48, you know, for their infraction in the Car of Tomorrow? Is everyone kind of expecting to see some, you know, particularly harsh reaction taken?

KURT: From what I've gathered, is that they don't want to see any of the teams, whether it's a crew chief, crew members or engineering department, anybody at all, step out of the box with this race car. Whether we're at a track like Darlington, where there was a spoiler infraction earlier, or whether we're in the future at a track like Daytona with our new car. They don't want teams getting creative or getting out of the box and trying to create a distinct advantage where they're outside the lines. So it will be interesting to see how they handle this situation. Personally, I think that the 24 and the 48 team didn't think they did anything wrong, but, yet, they were pushing the envelope too far. And that's where NASCAR's going to lay down the big hammer and say, Listen, guys, we want everybody to stay in the box, and we want the most even playing field we can have. Whether you're the points leader or you're the guy that barely made it in on time, everybody needs to have the same opportunity to win a race.

Q. How does it hurt a team when a crew chief is suspended?

KURT: Well, you hope you have the depth behind the crew chief, as far as somebody to step up on to the box and make those calls out on Sunday. But as far as everyday operation, it seems as if the team pulls together stronger. And teams are so well equipped these days with people behind the scenes that things don't miss a beat at all through the week. It's just the Sunday savvy, so to speak, of being able to make the right pit calls and making the right decisions and changes to make on the car that is the tough spot for crew chiefs being gone.

Q. With all the technology, with cell phones, and, you know, the TrackPass, and internet and all that, are crew chiefs able to still be in contact with the guys at the track on race day?

KURT: Oh, absolutely. There's no reason at all for the crew chief that's been suspended to not be able to communicate with the team. You use your Nextel phone and call them up, and there he is. So there's things that he can do away from the track, but, yet, being there in person. And being able to react within tenths of a second is the most important part of the crew chief.

Q. Any updates on your foundation?

KURT: We actually just had a large event up in Reno, Nevada, on our way out to Sonoma. I was with an Ace Charter School. It's a high school that allows kids to learn in a unique fashion, with hands-on interaction. And it blended right into my old chemistry with the Las Vegas Valley Water District. So I liked the school's intention. And I've been teamed up with Waterworks Industry Solutions this past couple of years, and we donated over $100,000 to this school to get them going in a stronger way and to be able to make an impact in more people's lives.

--That will make it 227 of 230 races... In his effort to get as close to the fans as possible, Kurt continues to go out to his merchandising trailer on race days to sign autographs and has missed only three times in seven years. Kurt will be signing autographs at his souvenir hauler on Sunday July 1, 2007 at New Hampshire International Speedway from 10:15am-10:45am. Fans must visit the trailer and get tickets in advance in order to participate.

--Kurt scheduled for a special appearance on Thursday at the Norfolk (Va.) Navy Base, meeting the sailors, signing autographs and taking pictures.

-- Kurt, crew chief Pat Tryson and crew now turn their focus to New Hampshire International Speedway for this weekend’s LENOX Tools 300. Kurt’s career Cup record on the 1.058-mile flat oval track boasts two wins, four top-five finishes and five top-10s in 12 races. He took the checkered flag in both races during his 2004 championship season. He started fifth and won in his lone NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series start at the track back in 2000.

--“The key to being a good manager is keeping the people who hate me away from those who are still undecided.” –Casey Stengel