CONFIDENT KURT BUSCH READY FOR MARTINSVILLE ‘LEVEL PLAYING FIELD’
Miller Lite Dodge Driver Enthused About First “Non-Handicapped” Race Of 2008 Sprint Cup Season

MARTINSVILLE, Va. (March 25, 2008) – Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch is understandably excited about heading into this weekend’s Goody’s Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville Speedway, the first race along the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup tour where he and his Pat Tryson-led team will be playing on a “level playing field.”

“At least we should be able to find our team’s transporter this weekend at Martinsville,” Busch said with a chuckle, referring to his team’s pre-season points-swap with the No. 77 Penske team which put his No. 2 Dodge team in an unusual environment for the first five races this year. “It’ll be great to get back to the track for a race where we’re in a totally non-handicapped situation.

“We’ve started 29th or further back in all but one race so far this season – started dead last at Daytona and 36th in two races when qualifying got rained out – so this season so far has been a matter of playing catch-up in every race,” said Busch, now 10th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup points entering Martinsville. “We’ve had to come from deep in the field in so many races that we have to be leading in the most-cars-passed category.”

A quick look at NASCAR’s current “Loop Data” statistical update shows that Busch has indeed been impressive in passing cars during the first five races of the 2008 season. He ranks second in total “green-flag passes” with 486.

When told of that statistic, Busch was quick to comprehend and comment. “Well, if we’re second, I certainly want to shake the hand of the guy who leads it,” Busch said emphatically. “Anybody who has passed more cars than we have so far this season definitely deserves some kind of award.

“I can tell you this much – we’ve certainly passed a lot of cars,” added Busch. “I know that NASCAR refers to ‘quality passes’ in their stats as passes while running in the top 15. I know we can’t be ranked very high in that category because in the first five races, we’ve spent the majority of the laps just trying to get up into the top 15. Hopefully, starting at Martinsville this weekend, we can really start putting up some numbers in that column.”

One of the most relieved men in the NASCAR garage area after five races have been placed in the record book is certainly crew chief Tryson.

“From Daytona all the way through the last weekend at Bristol, it’s been a big uphill battle, but we fought back every week and made it through it all just fine,” said Tryson. “Weather problems have plagued us early this season and we’ve only had the opportunity to start up in the top 10 one time so far this year. We’ve only had regular qualifying twice.

“We have something like a 30.6 average start and a 15.2 average finish this season and that even includes the blown tire and crash at Vegas,” said Tryson. “That’s pretty impressive if you ask me. Those are the only unfinished laps we have, because of blowing the right front tire and crashing with only 12 laps to go at Vegas. Without the bad luck at Vegas, we could be running at 100 percent in finishing the laps.

“We don’t normally play the game of ‘ifs and buts,’ but with what we’ve been able to overcome so far this year, I think it’s okay to look back,” said Tryson, who is making only his 27th start as crew chief for Busch and team this weekend at Martinsville. “The bottom line is that without the blown tire at Vegas, we would be sixth in the standings if we could have just finished where we were running. That’s pretty amazing when you stop and look at it that way.

“Kurt and all the guys on our team certainly deserve a lot of credit for hanging in there during the first five races,” Tryson said. “We’ve gone into these races at a disadvantage. The points-swap deal has cost us practice time and led to us getting less-than-favorable choices as for where we had to pit during the races.

“I never once heard anybody complain about anything,” added Tryson. “I think that says a lot about the true character of our team. The first five races are behind us now and we’re ready to really get after it and continue our climb toward the top.”

In Busch’s 15 career starts at Martinsville, he has recorded one win (October 2002), two top-five finishes, four top-10 finishes and one pole (October 2006). He has a 96.5 percent lap completion average and has been running at the finish of all the races. Busch started 12th and finished 12th in last year’s edition of the Goody’s Cool Orange 500.

A quick comparison to the 2007 season adds even more credibility to what Busch, Tryson and crew have accomplished in the first five races this year. At this time last season, Busch was 20th in points, trailing then-leader Jeff Gordon by a whopping 294 points. He was 78 points out of 12th. He was still looking for his first top-five finish of the year and had one top 10. Entering Martinsville last year, Busch had an 18.2 average start and a 22.8 average finish.

Practice at Martinsville on Friday from 12:00 Noon till 1:30 p.m. kicks off this weekend’s action. Qualifying to establish the starting grid for Sunday’s 500-lap battle is set for Friday at 3:40 p.m. local (live on SPEED-TV and MRN Radio). Saturday’s morning practice is scheduled from 11:30 a.m. till 12: 15 p.m. (live on SPEED-TV) and the final “happy hour” practice session is scheduled from 12:50 p.m. till 1:50 p.m. (live on SPEED-TV). Sunday’s Goody’s Cool Orange 500 has a scheduled 2:00 p.m. EDT starting time here on the scenic little .526-mile paper clip-shaped oval. FOX-TV and MRN Radio will provide live coverage of all the action beginning 30 minutes prior to race time.

Notes of interest:

--Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch and his Pat Tryson-led Penske Racing Team will be racing their brand new PSC-560 Dodge Charger in the Goody’s Cool Orange 500 action at Martinsville Speedway this weekend. “It’s another one of the new ‘second-generation’ editions of our COT model,” Pat explained. “We ran our first of these cars at Atlanta a few weeks ago and were fairly pleased with the outcome. We’re confident we can get to Martinsville and be even more competitive, especially now that everything is back on an even keel. We’re back up to being considered a top-10 team. Even if it were to rain out qualifying yet another time this weekend, we’d get to start in 10th and not way back in 36th. We’re looking forward to a great weekend ahead at Martinsville.”

--The pre-season agreement by Kurt, Pat and the Miller Lite Team to swap 2007 owner points with the No. 77 team saw the No. 2 team hauler parked in the most inconspicuous locations during the first five races of the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. “We shouldn’t have problems locating our team’s transporter this weekend and that’ll be a pleasant change,” Kurt said with a chuckle. “My hat’s off to Pat and all the guys on our team for showing what great total team players we have on our ‘blue deuce’ crew during the first five races of the season. It felt a little bit like being a world explorer every week, asking around and even calling Pat on the cell phone to find out where we were parked. When we did our media interview session at Daytona in the media center, I told them that it was probably the best for everyone involved for me to come to them because half of them probably couldn’t have found our transporter in the garage if we had been doing the interview there. It was a pretty tough grind for Pat and the guys, but we all buckled up and weathered the storm. When I look back at the first five races, I’ll never forget the Atlanta race weekend. Our transporter was parked way back in the far corner of the garage. It was actually a shorter walk from my coach to the transporter than it was from the transporter to the NASCAR office transporter. Maybe that wasn’t all too bad. Seriously though, it was pretty difficult to see our guys have to work outside the garage area under a tent until qualifying was over. With the rain and all, some of the guys resorted to wearing rain boots and all because of all the grass and mud out there. Through it all, Pat and the entire team showed so much class. I never heard a single complaint from any of the guys.”

Currently 10th in the 2008 point standings, Kurt, Pat and crew will definitely have better working conditions at the track beginning this weekend at Martinsville, the sixth event of the season.

--“We’ve had to come from deep in the field in so many races, we have to be leading in the most-cars-passed category,” Kurt said of his first five races during the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. A quick look at NASCAR’s current “Loop Data” statistical update shows that Busch has indeed been impressive in passing cars during the first five races of the 2008 season. He ranks second in total “green-flag passes” with 486. When told of that statistic, Kurt was quick to comprehend and comment. “Well, if we’re second, I certainly want to shake the hand of the guy who leads it,” Kurt said emphatically. “Anybody who has passed more cars than we have so far this season definitely deserves some kind of award.” Don’t be surprised if you see Kurt going out of his way to shake Robby Gordon’s hand at Martinsville this weekend. Gordon currently leads the category with 534.

--“We’ve certainly passed a lot of cars (this season),” Kurt said. “I know that NASCAR refers to ‘quality passes’ in their stats as passes while running in the top 15. I know we can’t be ranked very high in that category because in the first five races, we’ve spent the majority of the laps just trying to get up into the top 15. Hopefully, starting at Martinsville this weekend, we can really start putting up some numbers in that column.” For the record, Kurt currently ranks 16th with 180 “quality passes.” The top-five currently: Greg Biffle (312), Kyle Busch (283), Ryan Newman (276), Kasey Kahne (266) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (256). Last season after five races, Kurt ranked 17th in “Quality Passes” with 206.

--Quick-Stats Entering Goodies Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville (courtesy of NASCAR PR):
10 – Kurt Busch (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge):