BUSCH EXPECTING MORE “CAR OF TOMORROW” PROGRESS AT RICHMOND
Miller Lite Dodge Driver Cites “Great Richmond Test & Promising Phoenix Performance”

RICHMOND, Va. (May 1, 2007) – Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch may have only a 20.0 average start and a 19.7 average finish in the three Car of Tomorrow races completed thus far in 2007, but he is confident he can greatly improve those statistics in this weekend’s fourth COT race at Richmond International Raceway.

“Don’t let those numbers fool you because we certainly don’t look at them as truly representing our progress with the new Dodge Avenger,” said Busch, whose best COT start was sixth at Phoenix and best COT finish was 12th at Martinsville entering this weekend’s Crown Royal 400 at R.I.R. “We were really slow out of the box with the car and I can’t deny that, but things have come around pretty well in recent weeks. We had a great Richmond test (on April 3-4) which led to a very promising run at Phoenix.

“We only spent about 45 minutes in qualifying trim during the Richmond test and were able to turn in the fastest lap of the final session,” Busch said of his 123.141-mph (21.926-second) lap. “We turned those fast times in the car that we’re bringing back to race at Richmond this weekend. It was the backup Miller Lite Dodge that we had stored up in the top of the transporter out at the Phoenix race.

“We really are looking forward to getting back to Richmond and continuing our progress with the new car,” continued Busch, who climbed to 10th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings with a third-place finish last Sunday at Talladega. “We think we can finally put together a weekend where the strong performances in qualifying and in the race can boast the good statistics to reflect that strength.”

“Phoenix was pretty frustrating because we started sixth and should have finished sixth or better, we think,” said interim crew chief Troy Raker, who is filling in for Roy McCauley as he spends time with his ill wife. “We started out tight in the center and loose off and immediately starting making minor adjustments. The adjustments produced the results we were looking for on all but one occasion. We were able to reverse what was done on the next pit stop and get headed back in the right direction.

“The bottom line is that Kurt is getting more familiar with the car and we are able as a team to work more effectively in getting him what he needs under him. We’re all anxious to get back to Richmond and see how we stack up.

“I’d say that only 25 percent or less of the Richmond test was spent utilizing our 512 car (PSC-512 chassis), the car we raced at Phoenix,” Raker added. “We think the Richmond car, the (PSC-) 514, will be even stronger. That fast lap we ran in it wasn’t in the cool of the night like many people may think. Kurt, myself and everyone on our Miller Lite Dodge Team are going back to Richmond with some high expectations. We’re all pretty confident that we can live up to them, too.”

“Talladega gave our Miller Lite Dodge team just the boost we were looking for heading into Richmond this weekend,” said Busch, coming off his sixth consecutive top-10 finish at the mammoth Talladega Superspeedway in last Sunday’s Aaron’s 499. “After the problems we had during the last few races, with the bad breaks because of the cautions falling like they did, we knew we needed a solid weekend at Talladega to help get our momentum rolling again and that’s exactly what happened.

“We had been having good top-five and top-10 performances, but poor fuel mileage led to us getting caught by the caution flags and we just didn’t get the finishes we deserved,” said Busch. “We’ve still been making steady progress up the ladder in the points and that third-place finish at Talladega on Sunday was just what we needed to lift us on up there into the top 10.”

While Busch and team have plenty of confidence entering Richmond, that certainly doesn’t mean that the 2004 NASCAR champ doesn’t have the ultimate respect for the demanding .750-mile oval.

“Richmond had never been a very kind track to me until we won the fall race there in ‘05,” Busch said of his win in the Sept. 10, 2005 Chevy Rock & Roll 400 after starting third in the event. “The place certainly had my respect because it had bitten us so many times before. It’s a tough track to win on and it seemed like we’d had everything go wrong at one time or another to take our chances of winning away.

“We’d raced there many times before and maybe as a rookie, I had just written the place off,” said Busch, who had only one top-10 finish at Richmond prior to winning the 2005 race. “We had races where we ran out of gas while leading with only eight laps to go, races that we had lugnuts get stuck in the brake caliper while leading and even had fan belts come off the car while we were leading.

“It’s definitely a tough race track, but it’s also becoming one of my favorites,” said Busch. “It was definitely on my hit list. We’d already won races at Bristol and Martinsville and by winning at Richmond in 2005, we have won races on all the short tracks.”

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This weekend’s schedule at Richmond calls for practice on Friday from 11:15 a.m. till 1:00 p.m. The single round of qualifying on Friday at 6:10 p.m. will allocate all 43 starting positions for Saturday’s race. Saturday’s Crown Royal Presents the Jim Stewart 400 (400 laps/300 miles) has a 7:30 p.m. local (EDT) starting time. FOX-TV and MRN Radio will feature live broadcasts of the event beginning at 7:00 p.m. EDT.

Notes of interest:

--Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch’s third-place finish in Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway lifted him from 13th to 10th in the current NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings. With 1,038 points, Kurt trails ninth-place Kevin Harvick by only 14 points and he is 34 points ahead of 12th-place Carl Edwards. It marks the first time Kurt has been in the top 10 in the standings since the conclusion of the 2005 season, when he finished 10th after having to sit out the final two races.

--Kurt was even surprised somewhat by his incredible come-from-the-back finish at Talladega. He was 26th on the Lap 178 restart and made it all the way back up to third during the final laps. “Man, with about 20 laps or so to go, it didn’t look that promising,” Kurt said. “I figured that the high line was the best place to be, but when there were 30 cars running up there in single file, we had to look elsewhere. When we had the restart with about 10 laps to go, I knew we would see it get back to two and three-wide racing. We were pretty aggressive moving up through there, but with the laps running out, we just had to go for it and get all the positions we could. They said we made up 23 spots in the final 10 laps and that’s pretty incredible. Like I said, this was a finish that we needed and it came at a really good time for our team. We had a great test at Richmond earlier this month and we’re really looking forward to getting back there this weekend.”

--The highlight of the Talladega race radio banter for Kurt and crew came on Lap 186 of the scheduled 188-lap race that went into overtime. “We’re doing it boys, we’re really doing it out here,” Kurt radioed to his crew as the cars paraded around the track under the seventh caution period of the event. He had been back as far as 26th in the running order only a handful of laps before and now was back up to the fourth spot. “I really don’t know what what it is we’re doing out here, but we’re really doing it.” “You’re doing exactly what you need to do,” shot back interim crew chief Troy Raker. “Keep it up and we still have a shot to win.”

--The third-place finish at Talladega was Kurt’s fifth top-five finish and 10th top-10 in only 13 starts on the track. It was his sixth consecutive top-10 finish and he has a 5.5 average finish during that period that dates back to the October 2004 race. It was his fourth career third-place finish on the 2.66-mile track.

--Kurt’s Miller Lite Dodge Team, led by interim crew chief Troy Raker, came home the winners in the weekly Checkers/Rally’s Double Drive-Thru Challenge for their performance in Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. “The guys were certainly awesome on pit road at Talladega on Sunday,” Kurt said. “It called for a mixture of all kinds of stops and they performed flawlessly. It was a good and solid day all around for our Miller Lite Dodge Team. Winning the Checkers/Rally's Double Drive-Thru Challenge puts the icing on the cake for the best finish we’ve had during the 2007 season.”

The Over-The-Wall Crew for No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge:
Ray Gallaghan – Jackman Mooresville, N.C.
Jay Hackney – Front Tire Changer Haysi, Va.
Kevin Hebert – Rear Tire Changer Hickory, N.C.
David Littau – Front Tire Carrier Pottsville, Pa.
Andy Brown – Rear Tire Carrier Lander, Pa.
Chris Williams – Gasman Lebanon, Ohio
Steve Williams – Catch Can Lebanon, Ohio
Spotters were Dave Kenny and Jesse Walker.

--Kurt is making a trip on Thursday to the Bristol, Conn., headquarters of ESPN. On tap is the filming of two TV spots. “That’s something I have been wanting to do all of my racing career,” Kurt said. “It is certainly an honor to be part of ESPN’s promotional activities and we’re looking forward to meeting a lot of people and shaking a lot of hands there on Thursday.”

--They had a “rockin’ & rollin’ good time.” That was the report from Kurt and Eva Busch as for her special birthday party last Thursday (4/26). “We went back to Virginia, gathered up a group of her closest personal friends from back home and rented the local roller-skating rink,” Kurt explained. “We were all using the old-type standard skates, had the music blasting out of the speakers. It was a fun time and a great way to party and enjoy Eva’s special day.”

--Kurt & crew testing at Rockingham (the defunct North Carolina Motor Speedway) today (Tuesday, May 1, 2007) in preparation for the Saturday, May 12 race at Darlington Raceway.

--When Kurt led Lap 81 in last Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway, it entered the record books as the 100th race he had led in Cup competition. He has now led laps in 43.7 percent (100 of 229) of his races.

--Kurt and crew will be racing their PSC-514 Miller Lite Dodge Avenger this weekend at Richmond. The team tested with the car at Richmond back on April 3-4 and turned in the fastest lap of the final practice session (lap of 123.141 mph/21.926 seconds). They also tested their PSC-512 Dodge Avenger, the car the team raced at Phoenix, where Kurt saw a top-10 run go down the tubes due to poor fuel mileage and an untimely caution flag. “I’d say that only 25 percent or less of the Richmond test was spent utilizing our 512 car (PSC-512 chassis), the car we raced at Phoenix,” said Troy Raker, the team’s interim crew chief. “We think the Richmond car, the (PSC-) 514, will be even stronger. That fast lap we ran in it wasn’t in the cool of the night like many people may think. Kurt, myself and everyone on our Miller Lite Dodge Team are going back to Richmond with some high expectations. We’re all pretty confident that we can live up to them, too.”

--Kurt’s career record at Richmond sports one win, one top-five finish and two top-10s in 12 races. He is still looking for his first career pole on the .750-mile track. “Richmond had never been a very kind track to me until we won the fall race there in ‘05,” Kurt said of his win in the Sept. 10, 2005 Chevy Rock & Roll 400 after starting third. “The place certainly had my respect because it had bitten us so many times before. It’s a tough track to win on and it seemed like we’d had everything go wrong at one time or another to take our chances of winning away. We had races where we ran out of gas while leading with only eight laps to go, races that we had lugnuts get stuck in the brake caliper while leading and even had fan belts come off the car while we were leading. It’s definitely a tough race track, but it’s also becoming one of my favorites. We’d already won races at Bristol and Martinsville and by winning at Richmond in 2005, we have won races on all the short tracks.”

--“If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.” –Mark Twain