 |
 |
| Nextel Cup Series |
 |
|
News and Results | Point Standings | 2007 Schedule | 2007 Teams | 2006 Schedule and Results | 2005 Schedule and Results
KURT BUSCH HOPING TO SHAKE CASE OF “ELEVENITIS” AT PHOENIX
AVONDALE, Ariz. (April 17, 2007) – Entering Saturday night’s Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway, Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch is looking to shake off a bad case of “elevenitis.” Busch has led laps in four of the seven races completed so far this season. He was a serious threat to win the season-opening Daytona 500 and led the most laps. If not for an untimely caution flag during last Sunday’s Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, he could have been the driver wearing the ten-gallon hat and sporting the six-shooters in Victory Lane. It was easy to understand why Busch’s frustration was evident after Sunday’s Texas race. After all the promising performances recorded by his Miller Lite Dodge crew this season, his seventh-place finish at California back in February rates as his top entry into the 2007 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup record book and his lone top-10 finish. “Yeah, I was pretty perturbed there at Texas right after the race on Sunday,” Busch said on Monday, looking back on the Texas race and ahead to this weekend’s race at Phoenix. “I was up in the driver’s lounge in our transporter looking at the scoring monitor and watching the end of the TV broadcast. I was saying something out loud like, ‘11th to 15th…11th to 15th -- no matter what we do and how strong we are -- we’re just stuck right there,’ when Roger (team owner Roger Penske) came in from the spotters’ stand. “He heard what I was saying and almost immediately brought me to my senses by saying something like, ‘sit down, Kurt, and let’s look at the big picture.’ Roger certainly has a calming effect on me and I was listening to everything he said,” Busch said. “He quickly pointed to all the positive facts. He asked me to stop and think about how much improvement we’ve made on the intermediate tracks in just the last few races. He talked about being strong at California, strong at Atlanta and now up to the point of being a threat to win on these tracks. He was able to convince me that we are indeed headed in the right direction. “After Roger said what he did, I got to thinking back in the coach,” Busch said. “Our Texas run was pretty incredible considering we were in a backup car. Add to the equation that Roy (McCauley, crew chief) was back home with Amy (McCauley’s ill wife) and Troy (Raker) had to step up and lead our team. I’m really proud of the guys. We just have to keep on doing what we’re doing and sooner or later the statistics will be there to back up the strong performances.” In other words, if Busch and his Miller Lite Dodge Team can continue the strong performances, they are destined to shake the case of “elevenitis” and begin posting the top-five and top-10 finishes that have eluded them so far this season. * * * Could Busch and crew turn the tide in Saturday’s Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix? “I certainly hope so,” Busch said. “But you have to remember that it’ll be another Car of Tomorrow race and that has certainly proven to be another whole new animal. We were really slow out of the box with our program, but I think we’ve gotten better and are headed in the right direction there, too.” Busch started 42nd and finished 29th in the COT debut race at Bristol and bounced back to start 12th and finish 12th in the most recent COT race at Martinsville. “We had a great test a couple of weeks ago at Richmond and came away confident that we had made some headway preparing for the upcoming Richmond race and also for this weekend’s race at Phoenix,” said Busch. “A lot of the teams have struggled with the new car and we’re certainly included in that group. We spent a lot of the Richmond test focusing on the front end and trying to get it to work better. “We’re really looking forward to getting out to Phoenix and see how we stack up,” Busch concluded. “I won’t be making any bold predictions, but I sincerely think we’ll see measurable improvement with our performance.” In eight career NEXTEL Cup starts at PIR, Busch has recorded one win (April 2005), two top-five finishes and five top-10s. He started seventh and finished 24th in the April race last season and came back to start eighth and finish eighth last November on the Desert Mile. * * * Kurt Busch PHOENIX Quick Stats (courtesy NASCAR PR): * * * This weekend’s schedule at Phoenix calls for practice on Thursday from 12:45 p.m. till 2:15 p.m. The single round of qualifying on Thursday at 5:10 p.m. will allocate all 43 starting positions for Saturday’s race. Friday’s schedule features Cup practice sessions from 1:30 p.m. till 2:20 p.m. and from 4:50 p.m. till 5:50 p.m. Saturday’s Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway has a 5:30 p.m. local (8:30 p.m. EDT) starting time. FOX-TV and MRN Radio will broadcast the race live. * * * Notes of interest: --Troy Raker will again be standing in for crew chief Roy McCauley this weekend at Phoenix as Roy is spending time with wife, Amy, who is battling cancer. Here is a quick bio on Troy:
TROY RAKER
NEXTEL Cup Racing Experience:
--Kurt, Troy and team racing their PSC-512 Miller Lite Dodge at Phoenix this weekend. This chassis has not been raced, but the team did test with it at Richmond (on April 3-4). “I think the test went really well and will help so much for not only the race coming up at Richmond, but also at Phoenix,” Kurt said. “We had two brand new cars at Richmond and had the opportunity to work quite a bit on both of them,” Roy said. “We had the new ‘514’ (PSC-514) and it’s the car we’ll race at Richmond. We also had our new ‘512’ and we’ll be racing it at Phoenix. As far as the speeds go, we were solid top 10 pretty throughout the test and clocked in with the fastest time during the final session. What was impressive was the fact we were in race trim for all but about 45 minutes of the test. I think we made a lot of progress in learning how to make the front ends on these new cars work better.” The NEXTEL Cup circuit visits Phoenix International Raceway this weekend and returns to race at Richmond on Saturday, May 5. --Kurt looking to shake case of “elevenitis” this weekend at Phoenix. There is much more on this in the release that follows. --In eight career NEXTEL Cup starts at PIR, Kurt has recorded one win (April 2005), two top-five finishes and five top-10s. He started seventh and finished 24th in the April race last season and came back to start eighth and finish eighth last November on the Desert Mile. --Kurt will be making another celebrity bartending appearance this Friday night. It will also mark the debut of a new offering where Kurt will participate in the Big Buck Hunter Pro Video Game with consumers. Friday’s appearance will be from 7:30 p.m. till 8:30 p.m. at the Buffalo Wild Wings located at 13311 W. McDowell Rd. in Goodyear. Go to this link for a map of the location and additional information: http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/search/locationsMap.php?oid=226364&surround=yes --Phoenix International Raceway Data Race #: 8 of 36 (4-21-07) Track Size: 1 mile
--Qualifying/Race Data --“If you command wisely, you’ll be obeyed cheerfully.” –Thomas Fuller
Home | Nextel Cup | Busch Series | Photo Gallery | Forum | Silly Season | Newsletter | Fire and Ice
©Copyright 2007 Race 2 Win
|
