2012 Bristol Food City 500 Preview

By Micah Roberts
VegasInsider.com

Kyle Busch has been king of the concrete (Getty)

Last week in Las Vegas we got to see some major horsepower displayed, but not a lot of drivers were mixing it up while running in single file for most of the day. This week at Bristol we get some side-by-side short track racing which usually brings and the best and worst of drivers. The drama created on the track translates into must-see TV throughout the race.

“Racing at Bristol is like fighter jets in a gymnasium," said Carl Edwards earlier this week. "The banking is so high, you drive down in the corner and the forces pushing the car into the track seem so much greater than anywhere else we go. The rate at which the car is changing direction is very fast. It always takes me a few laps in the race, 10-15 laps in, to get comfortable with the pace of it because things are happening so quickly there.

Bristol is a high banked half-mile track that has multiple grooves allowing drivers to pass either high or low. We don’t see the type of love taps or punts we used to under the old layout where drivers fought for the bottom line, but the best thing about Bristol stills remains: it’s tight and cramped with all 43 drivers trying to create their own space when very little is available.

The favorite coming into this weeks race is Kyle Busch due to winning four of the last six races run there. He has five wins in 14 starts and it would seem appropriate that a driver with the nickname “Rowdy” would be the driver to beat on a track like Bristol.

“I’m not exactly sure what makes me so good at Bristol," said Busch when asked about his Bristol success. "I’ve just had a lot of success there, but I’ve also had some misfortune there, too. Ever since I got through my rookie year, I’ve just taken a liking to the place. Of course, I’ve been able to get some help from my brother (Kurt). He’s always been really, really good there. But, when they changed the track to this current surface, I just really took to it right away. I really liked it and I’ve been fast there, but also I’ve had great racecars from Joe Gibbs Racing."

The timing for Bristol couldn’t have come at a better time for Busch because he’s still searching for a good run that meets his standards. He’s had only one top-10 finish in the three races run thus far and currently sits 12th in points. The one positive out of Busch so far is that despite not having great cars, he’s been able take the finish allowed by the car and not try and push it more than it was capable of. The fact that he’s 12th right now could be a sign of maturity and finally understanding big picture racing.

Busch will be using a brand new chassis this week with hopes of getting his sixth career Bristol win and make him the active leader among drivers. He'll be half way to the track record of 12 held by Darrell Waltrip.

Carl Edwards is a two-time winner at Bristol that probably feels very fortunate to be where he’s at right now. In the last two races, Edwards did not have a good car, but what they did last week was amazing. After looking terrible in Saturday’s final practices, Edwards crew had to make the car better during the race. Edwards was not a contender throughout running outside the top-15, but during each pit stop, they got progressively better until ultimately finishing in fifth-place. That is the sign of championship team. Edwards best finish over the last six Bristol races was runner-up in this race last season.

Edwards will be using a chassis that saw action last season at Chicago (fourth-place) and Dover (third-place).

Sitting atop the leader board in points is Edwards’ teammate Greg Biffle. After three races, he’s the only driver to finish in the top-5 in all three. Bristol has been one of Biffle’s better tracks over his career. Although he’s never won a Cup race there, he does have an 11.8 average finish position that includes six top-5 finishes. This team is really clicking right now and although it’s early, he might be a driver to take an early shot with to win the championship. The LVH Super Book updated their future odds with Biffle at 12-to-1.

Johnson has adapted well to Bristol's new surface (Getty)

The favorites to win the championship are currently Edwards and Jimmie Johnson at 5-to-1. Just like Edwards, Johnson’s team showed why they are five-time champs. After wrecking their primary car in final practice, the No. 48 team got their back-up off the hauler and set-up in time for Johnson to run the final 20 minutes of practice. They worked on their car making it better in each pit stop and went on to contend for the win until ultimately settling for a runner-up finish.

Bristol had not been one of Johnson’s best tracks, but when they changed to the variable banking it made the track run like a mini-Dover and Johnson excelled. He captured a win in 2010 and has finished no worse than eighth in five of his last six starts.

Johnson has a pretty good car this week as well. In five 2011 starts, the chassis never finished worse than ninth and included runner-up finishes at California and Atlanta.

Matt Kenseth is a two-time Bristol winner, doing so on the old layout. He’s finished in the top-10 in each of his last five Bristol starts with a best of fourth in this race last season. He'll be using a brand new car this week.

Jeff Gordon is a five-time Bristol winner, the last coming in 2002. He’s been competitive on the new layout with three top-5 finishes, including a best of third in the fall race last season.

Tony Stewart has an even larger gap in time from his last win than Gordon does. Stewart thought Bristol was easy after winning in 2001, but since then he’s managed only three top-5 finishes in 20 starts. He was runner-up in 2010, but his last three starts have seen him finish 19th or worse.

Brad Keselowski charged hard for the win last fall and just like Kyle Busch, this track suits his attitude perfect. With all the heat on Kyle Busch from NASCAR and his sponsors, we don’t get to see the true “Rowdy” come out to play anymore, but Keselowski could be that type of villain we like to love and hate at the same time. Here’s to hoping Keselwoski picks a fight Sunday afternoon and shakes some things up in the series.

Top-5 Finish Prediction:
1) #18 Kyle Busch (6/1)
2) #16 Greg Biffle (14/1)
3) #48 Jimmie Johnson (8/1)
4) #17 Matt Kenseth (12/1)
5) # 2 Brad Keselowski (18/1)

Kyle Busch Makes Last Second Pass on Stewart to Win Bud Shootout

by NASCAR Wire Services

Legends are made of the kind of night Kyle Busch had Saturday (Getty)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Kyle Busch rallied from two near-disasters to win Saturday's Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway with a slingshot move past Tony Stewart a few yards from the finish line at Daytona International Speedway.

The victory was Busch's first in the season-opening exhibition race contested in two segments of 25 and 50 laps. His winning margin over Stewart was .013 seconds.
New Gear for 2012!

Marcos Ambrose recovered from a pair of wrecks to finish third, followed by Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin.

Stewart had just taken the lead on Lap 74 of a scheduled 75 when a violent wreck in Turn 4 sent Jeff Gordon's No. 24 Chevrolet barrel-rolling through Turn 4 and sliding on its roof toward the entrance to pit road.

Gordon was following Kyle Busch on the backstretch, and contact between the cars turned Busch's down onto the apron. Busch made a dramatic save for the second time in the race, but Gordon slid up the track into the Chevrolets of Kurt Busch and Jamie McMurray.

As all three cars contacted the outside wall, Jimmie Johnson's Chevrolet nosed beneath the right rear bumper of Gordon's car and turned it upside down.

The wreck left 11 cars on the lead lap and sent the race to overtime.

A close call for Kyle Busch on Lap 48 strung the field out, leaving a 10-car pack fighting for the lead. Busch's Toyota twice turned sideways off the bumper of Johnson, and twice Busch saved the car from calamity despite running onto the apron in Turn 2.

The complexion of the race changed dramatically on Lap 55, when a chain-reaction wreck that started with contact between the cars of pole-sitter Martin Truex Jr., Ambrose and Joey Logano clobbered those three vehicles and eliminated Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth.

The resulting fourth caution of the race bunched the field for a restart on Lap 62, with Greg Biffle in the lead, followed by Hendrick Motorsports teammates Gordon and Johnson and reigning Sprint Cup Series champion Stewart.

The race was barely eight laps old when contact from David Ragan's Ford turned Paul Menard's Chevrolet and ignited a multicar wreck that also damaged the cars of Kasey Kahne, Hamlin, Kenseth, Juan Montoya, Michael Waltrip, Jeff Burton and Gordon.

Earnhardt, who had led the first three laps, had just regained the top spot on Lap 8 and was out in front when the wreck erupted behind him. The crash sidelined Menard, Ragan and Waltrip and knocked Hamlin and Kahne off the lead lap. Burton also fell of the lead lap during the first 25-lap segment when he pitted under green with a cut tire.

"Everybody was real racy and I just got into the back of Menard," Ragan said after exiting his car. "You get a good run, and you're pushing a little bit, and I guess he was pushing whoever was in front of him. And when you've got the meat in between the sandwich, you usually get wrecked."

McMurray was at the front of the field when NASCAR called the competition caution after Lap 25. Gordon, undeterred by minor damage to his car, was second, followed by Harvick, Kyle Busch and Ambrose.

Bud Shootout Results


DRIVER QUOTES FOLLOWING BUD SHOOTOUT

TONY STEWART

Newman's daughter wishes good luck before race (Getty)

TELL US ABOUT THE FINISH OF THAT RACE: “I knew he (Kyle Busch) was going to pull out but he at least got us up there where we needed to be. It reminded me of when we were in the opposite positions coming down here. I wasn’t going to put myself in a position to wreck myself, but I thought I left enough room to break the seal and get a little air between us. He did a good job. He did exactly what he needed to do.”

WHAT TYPES OF THINGS DID YOU LEARN HERE TONIGHT? WHAT TYPES OF THINGS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO AS WE CONTINUE ON INTO SPEEDWEEKS? “That is a lot more fun racing like this than the two-car stuff. You are still going to see it at the end of the race I think. The good thing is it is a lot more fun running in the traditional pack than what we have had here in the past so I am looking forward to it. It is going to be a fun week.”


KEVIN HARVICK

Harvick got tangled up in one of the wrecks (Getty)

WHAT HAPPENED OUT ON THE RACE TRACK? “It looked to me like the No. 9 got into the left-rear of the No. 20. It just takes a little bit of patient and a little bit of thinking on the parts of everybody on the race track. All the wrecks tonight have been caused by people hitting in the left-rear. I just hate it for everybody on our Budweiser team. The car was fast, in position to do the things we needed to do. Man, you just can’t hit guys in the left-rear.”

IS THAT ONE OF THE BIG LESSONS? WHAT OTHER THINGS DID YOU BRING OUT OF TONIGHT’S RACE? “I think the biggest problem is the tandem racing has been so easy for these guys to stay attached that some of them haven’t raced in pack racing. You get those big runs and things are going to happen a lot faster than they used to. They are just going to have to be a little more patient.”


DALE EARNHARDT JR

Junior thinks the racing is similar to years ago (Getty)

WHAT DID YOU SEE OUT THERE? “I did see anything. I was behind (Martin) Truex. We checked up into the corner and I lifted a little bit. Then there was a wreck. I got into the back of Truex and I had somebody, I think somebody was pushing me, I don’t know. We all just kind of went up in the fence. I couldn’t get slowed down fast enough going that quick. We were all just running single file. It is a silly way to wreck. It was just something that happened that should not have happened.”

DALE WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT THE RACING OUT THERE TONIGHT? DO YOU LIKE IT? DO YOU LIKE THE CHANGES? “I like it better. The closing rate is a little fast. Guys will go flying backwards and forwards. I think we made a lot of great improvements don’t get me wrong. I think we have really made a lot of great improvements and I have more of my destiny in my hands in this type of racing.”

YOU LOOKED REALLY COMFORTABLE: “I was feeling really good and really happy with the way things were going. I felt like I was doing a good job. I felt like I had control of my race and had potential to win the race if I made all the right moves. That is all I can ask for.”

DOES THIS REMIND YOU OF PACK RACING TWO, THREE, FIVE YEARS AGO? “ This is real similar to when we first put the blades on the roofs. These cars that we have now have a really big greenhouse. There is just a massive closing rate. When you get bogged down guys can just fly around you. You just really have to be on your toes because somebody can get into you pretty quick. There is really no place for blocking anymore. Juan (Pablo Montoya) just about wrecked the whole field there on the front straight-a-way. When guys got runs on me, I just pointed them to a lane, so they knew where they could go safely and we would race it out. I would get them back if I could. I really wasn’t sure I would put anybody, when the closing rate is that fast, to see some part of the race track to the guys coming onto you. You can’t just be blocking like hell.”

HOW MUCH BETTER DO YOU FEEL NOW ABOUT YOUR CHANCES IN THE DAYTONA 500 THAN YOU DID THE OTHER DAY? “I like this kind of racing better. At least I know what to expect. I feel like I have a better chance with this style than I did last year for damn sure.”

WHAT DO YOU EXPECT IN THE DAYTONA 500? IS IT GOING TO BE CHAOTIC? “A lot of the same. Maybe being 500 miles guys might use a little better judgment, but I wouldn’t count on it. It is a heavy duty race. It is a pretty big deal to win and its going to be a lot of guys pretty excited about their prospects of winning it. Still pretty much any car can win. The lotteries still there for the whole field. We will just see how it works out. I think you will see some things happen throughout the rest of the week. I don’t know if this is exactly how we are going to go in. We are all running pretty warm. Guys were pushing water even when they weren’t tandem out there. We might have to look at where we are temperature wise in pack drafts and see if we’ve got enough give room to not be pushing all the water out. It is 15-20 degrees warmer during the day racing in the 500 and the 125’s and stuff. We will see how that goes, the 150’s or whatever they are.”


KURT BUSCH

Busch was charging hard when the wreck found him

WHAT HAPPENED OUT THERE? “All the hard work from the crew guys, this was our fourth string type car. They are all calling it the 1985 Buick because of how old it is. We could feel all the hard work we put into it. With 10 to go, running into the top-five, you get emotional because you know how much hard work went into it. It is tough to wreck. It was awesome. For us to be running up with the big dogs and hanging out up front with a fourth stringer. This was a back-up to a back-up. We were in position coming to take the white and a couple of guys got sideways in front of us. This smaller spoiler gets the car looser through the banking. All of us are going to push like heck just to test the limits. It was a great race for our TAG Heuer Chevrolet. It was great for them to step on board and hopefully they got the exposure level they wanted to see tonight. It was a lot of fun. You could just feel the emotion with ten to go that we were in the position to do great things even though we are a small team.”


JAMIE MCMURRAY
ON TONIGHT’S RACE: “We had a great car tonight and thought we really had a shot to win this thing. The Bass Pro Shops Chevy was in the wrong place at the wrong time at the end and we got collected up in the mess. Hopefully we’ll have some better luck next weekend and give Johnny (Morris) another Daytona 500 win.”


JEFF BURTON

Burton nearly escaped damage in chain reaction wreck

JUST TALK ABOUT THE RACING OUT THERE: ‘I don’t know what to say. Plate racing is a huge challenge and one of the great things about the tandem racing is it separated the pack; one of the bad things about the tandem racing is I guess people thought it was boring. I don’t know what to say. It is a very difficult thing to try to figure out. At the end of the day, it is the driver’s responsibility not to cause wrecks, but it is just really hard. It is really hard.

“You saw an intensity level tonight you won’t see for the 500 until… What happens in the 500 every year, it always happens, everybody is pretty calm. Then it gets about half-way and it starts to get a little more intense. Then those last 100 miles, there is just caution after caution after caution and you get a mad dash for the end. That is what happens.”


KYLE BUSCH

Kyle Busch made two spectacular saves, and wins (Getty)

How many times did you actually save the car during the race? “I don’t know how many times I spun out and didn’t spin out. Amazing race — I can’t say enough about all these guys and this M&M’s Camry was fast. It was fun to drive when I wasn’t getting turned around. Tough race, but a fun race. Glad to see the pack back like that and making it interesting for us drivers — hopefully, it was great for the fans as much as it was for us drivers. Again, first race back in the M&M’s car and we’re back in victory lane — pretty cool. I can’t say enough about Interstate Batteries, Toyota, the Sprint Cup Series — thank Sprint and Monster Energy, thanks for giving me my boost.”

How did you make the last pass on Tony Stewart? “Somebody was in front of me — the 39 (Ryan Newman) and somebody and then got hooked up and went and I’m like, ‘Alright.’ I was trying to stay with the 39 and I pulled low and got in behind (Tony) Stewart and just mowed right up through there. He had a fast car and took us by those guys around the outside and I’m like, ‘It’s a two-guy race right now and it’s going to be either me or him coming to the start-finish line off of turn four.’ I’ve seen the move done before, it was my turn to do it this time — Stewart had me the last time here in July a couple years ago. I’m glad it was the M&M’s car and put me here in victory lane.”


CLINT BOWYER
How was tonight’s race? “That was an interesting race to say the least. The pack racing is back and that gives the drivers a little more control and adds a lot of excitement for the fans — and that’s the biggest thing — the fans wanted pack racing back and NASCAR listened and delivered. We learned a lot tonight about our 5-hour ENERGY Toyota and I thought we might have had a shot there at the end, but we lost our momentum on that last restart and that was it for us. We have a couple things to work on, but I’m confident we’ll be right where we need to be for the Daytona 500.”

Kurt Busch Signs to Drive Kyle Busch's Nationwide Car

Associated Press

MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- The Busch Brothers will be teamed together for the first time in more than a decade this season as co-drivers for Kyle Busch Motorsports.

Kyle Busch tabbed his older brother, Kurt, to share the No. 54 Toyota this year in the Nationwide Series. The brothers on Thursday introduced Monster Energy as their sponsor for the new team.

KBM has fielded a Truck Series team since 2010, but this will be its first year in stock-cars and in NASCAR's second-tier series. The brothers wasted no time boasting what they can accomplish this year: Kurt Busch said it's possible for them to sweep the entire 33-race schedule, while Kyle said his team will run for the Nationwide owner's championship.

"We've had a lot of talks about how this whole deal is going to work out, what we're both looking to get out of this and what a great opportunity this is to race in the Nationwide Series," Kyle Busch said. "Kurt's never done a full Nationwide deal, he's always had the itch but never really cared about it.

"Now this is something for him to get out there and win some races, help bring some banners over here."

Read More Here....

NASCAR Parks Kyle Busch for Entire Texas Weekend

Associated Press

Kyle Busch will not be allowed to race in the Sprint Cup or Nationwide races at Texas after he deliberately wrecked championship contender Ron Hornaday Jr. in the Truck Series race.

NASCAR President Mike Helton announced the decision Saturday after a meeting with Busch and Joe Gibbs, his Sprint Cup and Nationwide car owner. Even under the policy of "Boys, have at it," NASCAR determined Busch went too far.

"The responsibility that over the past two or three seasons we've given back to the drivers came I think with a very clear understanding that there could be a line that got crossed," Helton said. "And as annoying as the comments that I've made personally in the past about we'll know it when we see it might have been, we saw it last night."

Busch left the NASCAR hauler through an exit away from the media.

"This is a tough situation for us and basically what we're trying to do is go through it the right way," Gibbs said. "Everybody here with our race team is trying to meet with everybody that was affected by this and obviously we've got a lot of work to do there and a lot of people to see. But we're going to be try to go through this and try to handle everything in the right way."

Gibbs said he met with Busch in the driver's motor home, but didn't share what was said.

"It's one of those personal conversations you have when a real tough situation like this comes up," Gibbs said.

Busch is the first driver since Robby Gordon in August 2007 to be parked for a Cup race for actions in another NASCAR race the same weekend.

Michael McDowell will take over for Busch in the Cup race Sunday, and Denny Hamlin took over the Nationwide seat Saturday.

Gordon wasn't allowed to drive in a 2007 Cup race at Pocono after an incident during the Nationwide race at Montreal.

Kevin Harvick, the owner of Hornaday's truck, was kept out of the Cup race in Martinsville in 2002 for actions related to a truck race there the previous day.

Hornaday was knocked out of Friday night's truck race on the 14th of 148 laps when Busch retaliated for contact between them by pushing the four-time champion into the wall. The trucks made contact after trying to go three-wide around a slower truck and both then brushed the wall.

Busch got behind Hornaday and kept pushing until the No. 33 truck wound up in the wall.

"I lost my cool, no doubt about it. I've been wrecked four weeks in a row, and I've had enough of it, and I retaliated," Busch said by his hauler after the wreck Friday night. "So it's certainly my fault for doing that. If everybody wants to say, 'Hornaday is racing for a championship, roll over,' that's not my fashion. That's not anybody else's fashion out here."

Hornaday dropped from third to fourth in points, his margin increasing from 15 to 48 with only one race left.

Busch and Harvick were fined and placed on probation for an altercation following the Cup race at Darlington in May.

The two made contact during that race and Harvick wrecked with teammate Clint Bowyer. Afterward, Harvick climbed from his car and threw a punch into Busch's window before Busch used his car to bump Harvick's out of the way.

Officials radioed each man's crew during a later race at Pocono, when Harvick forced Busch down the track while the two were fighting for position.

In May, Busch was ticketed in North Carolina for driving 128 mph in a 45 mph zone in a bright yellow 2012 Lexus. He later pleaded guilty to speeding and no contest to reckless and careless driving, and lost his driver's license for 45 days. He was fined $1,000, sentenced to 30 hours of community service and put on one year of unsupervised probation .

During the Cup race in Texas last fall, Busch was penalized three laps — the first for speeding on pit road and two more for flashing an obscene gesture through his windshield at the NASCAR official who signaled the infraction while standing in front of Busch's car.

Busch Wrecks Hornaday in Truck race

Las Vegas Hilton Super Book Odds to Win 2011 Geico 400 at Chicagaoland Speedway

GEICO 400
CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2011

CARL EDWARDS 7
JIMMIE JOHNSON 7
KYLE BUSCH 7
JEFF GORDON 7
MATT KENSETH 8
KEVIN HARVICK 10
DENNY HAMLIN 12
KURT BUSCH 10
TONY STEWART 12
DALE EARNHARDT JR 30
GREG BIFFLE 20
KASEY KAHNE 25
CLINT BOWYER 30
RYAN NEWMAN 30
BRAD KESELOWSKI 12
JOEY LOGANO 40
MARTIN TRUEX JR 40
DAVID RAGAN 40
JUAN MONTOYA 50
MARK MARTIN 40
JEFF BURTON 60
JAMIE McMURRAY 50
BRIAN VICKERS 50
DAVID REUTIMANN 50
PAUL MENARD 60
AJ ALLMENDINGER 40
MARCOS AMBROSE 100
REGAN SMITH 200
TREVOR BAYNE 300
FIELD 300

Las Vegas Hilton Super Books Odds to Win Wonderful Pistachios 400 at Richmond

Kyle Busch is the 3-to-1 favorite to win at Richmond

WONDERFUL PISTACHIOS 400
RICHMOND INT'L RACEWAY
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2011

CARL EDWARDS 10
JIMMIE JOHNSON 8
KYLE BUSCH 3
JEFF GORDON 8
MATT KENSETH 20
KEVIN HARVICK 15
DENNY HAMLIN 9-2
KURT BUSCH 20
TONY STEWART 12
DALE EARNHARDT JR 30
GREG BIFFLE 30
KASEY KAHNE 30
CLINT BOWYER 20
RYAN NEWMAN 30
BRAD KESELOWSKI 15
JOEY LOGANO 40
MARTIN TRUEX JR 40
DAVID RAGAN 60
JUAN MONTOYA 50
MARK MARTIN 40
JEFF BURTON 50
JAMIE McMURRAY 60
BRIAN VICKERS 75
DAVID REUTIMANN 75
PAUL MENARD 50
AJ ALLMENDINGER 50
MARCOS AMBROSE 100
REGAN SMITH 200
BOBBY LABONTE 1000
FIELD 300

Friday's Driver Quotes from Atlanta

DALE EARNHARDT JR.

Earnhardt Jr signed a new 5-year deal with HMS (Getty)

TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS WEEKEND’S EVENT. “Well we’re just going to come in here and try to run as good as we can. We really like racing at Atlanta, it’s a fun race track. We’ll just see how practice goes – see how the car’s driving and see how much work we’re going to have to do to get where we want to be on speed and drivability and go from there. Hopefully it will be a pretty productive weekend for us. It’s not just to help us along in the Chase but we need to improve on performance as a whole. We’re looking to try to do that this weekend.”

CONGRATULATIONS ON SIGNING THE DEAL WITH HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS, CAN YOU TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT IT? “I’m happy that it happened. Me and Rick talked on the phone about probably five months ago. I just told him if we were gonna do another deal that I wanted to start on it now because I didn’t want to talk about it next year and it be any kind of distraction for me, but if he wanted to wait we could wait. He’s the boss and he can do whatever he wants. I just wanted to put that out there and he was ready to go so we just went ahead and shook hands and let Marshal and Kelley handle the heavy lifting. I’m excited about it and happy that I’ve got a place to work. I’m happy to have Rick’s commitment and hopefully me and Steve can continue to grow and start to do what we want to do on the race track. I’m looking forward to it man, it kind of puts it at ease there a little bit.”

WE KNOW YOU ARE FOCUSED ON THE CHAMPIONSHIP; WILL MAKING THE CHASE GIVE YOU A FEELING OF RELIEF? “Yeah, relief is probably the right word. Everyone expects you to make the chase. If you don’t make the chase you get that tag on you. You get labeled when you don’t make the chase and I want to avoid being in that situation. There are only a few drivers that get to make it, it is a pretty competitive sport but if you can be consistent and be smart, I made a few mistakes and a few driver errors that I really wish I could have back now, that I tried to tell myself not to make all year. I did pretty good, then we got along in the middle of the summer there and I started making a couple of mistakes. Blowing the left front tire coming onto pit road in Kentucky, and a couple of other places like that, that took away finishes that we needed. I know that if you can just be smart in the kind of equipment and the kind of team I have I should make the chase. We are plenty good enough to do that, but we put ourselves in a tough position going into these last two races over the summer time with a couple mistakes that I made and I’m sure Steve might stand up here and tell you he made a couple himself too. We just have to learn from those and not do them again. I think I will just be relieved if I make the chase. I want to win this championship and be a champion one day. I think that is what everybody out there drivin strives to do. Making is just something that is expected of everybody.”

SOCIAL MEDIA, SUCH AS FACEBOOK AND TWITTER, HAS REALLY CHANGED THE COMMUNICATION OF LANDSCAPE GLOBALLY. SOME DRIVERS LIKE IT, SOME DON’T WHAT’S YOUR OPINION AND WHAT DO YOU THINK THE FUTURE WILL BE LIKE WITH SOCIAL MEDIA? “Well, it’s a big player I think and the easiest way to get your information. It is awesome that the drivers that are physically on there, like Harvick and those guys, I think it is great that the fans have the opportunity to connect and walk side by side with them through their day, whatever they are doing or whatever they happen to be talking about. I don’t have a personal twitter account, and I don’t have a personal account on any online or any social network, but we use it a lot at JR Motor Sports to keep people updated, give people the opportunity to know what we are doing, and interact with us, get involved with our programs. It has made things a lot easier for the media to get information out, you guys are in here trying to battle to get information out. It has definitely made things a lot better for everyone involved. Like everything, you have to use it in moderation. I think it is a good thing.

TONY STEWART

Stewart still 21 points up on Chase (Getty)

ON THIS WEEKEND’S RACE. “The good thing is we are on the same tire that we won on here last year so as much as I would like to say we can put the same set up on and have the same result unfortunately technology changes between when we won here last year and now so what we had won’t be good enough we’ll have to try to make it better. It’s at least somewhat comforting knowing we have a package that worked last year and we have an idea of what we need to compete with.”

IS THIS KIND OF A LAST DITCH RACE FOR YOU CONSIDERING THE SEASON YOU’VE BEEN HAVING? “I don’t think so. We’re still 21 points to the good of where we need to be so we are in the spot we need to be in we just need to maintain it. So, obviously if we had a win this weekend we wouldn’t have to worry about it next week so it would be a luxury to win the race this week but it’s not a necessity. It could work against us too. It may not work out after Richmond but at least going into this weekend we are where we need to be. Everybody keeps saying last ditch and we have to make something happen, we don’t have to make anything happen we’re in the spot we’re supposed to be in and need to be in to be in the Chase so we just have to not have a disaster happen. We just need two solid weeks.”

YOU SEEM PRETTY CALM, HOW WOULD YOU ASSESS THE OVER ALL PROGRAM? “I can’t say that I’m ecstatic where we’re at. I think we have a lot of room to be better than where we are but as a competitor Jimmie Johnson can probably tell you after each of the last five years there was room for improvement too to make their program better so you’re always looking as a competitor to make your program and your system better than what it is. Definitely not happy with where we are at but I don’t think anybody really is, I think everybody feels like there are things they can do better and some of those organizations are questioning what they have to do to get better than what they are. We’re one of those teams right now.”

HOW HARD IS IT TO FIGURE OUT WHAT IT IS? “It just shows how sensitive I think these cars are. The window of getting them right is very, very small verses what we’ve had in the past but that’s what makes it also fun. That’s what makes when you have a good day and you do get it in that window that’s what makes it gratifying knowing you were able to accomplish that goal. It’s the hard part of trying to figure out what you’re missing when you’re off. That’s the frustrating part is when you go week in and week out and you can’t figure out what that missing piece of the equation is. You see guys that have not been good in the past but all of the sudden are good, they’ve found something so its proof that it’s there it’s just our job to go out and find it and capitalize on it.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE RECENT RUN THAT YOU’RE TEAM HAS BEEN ON? “It’s been an amazing run and I feel awful privileged to have as fast of race cars that I’ve had over the last few weeks. When you run through a point in time that you don’t have fast race cars, it certainly feels good to get into some good equipment and get going. It’s certainly an honor. I wish I could pinpoint what it is. I have a hard time believing that having a broken foot makes you a better race car driver. I think that it’s the team coming together and clicking as one and I’m proud to be a part of that.”

KURT BUSCH

Why isn't Busch running close to his teammate? (Getty)

WE’VE ALL TAKEN NOTICE OF WHAT YOUR TEAMMATE BRAD KESELOWSKI HAS DONE OVER THE LAST FOUR WEEKS AND ONE THING THAT STANDS OUT IS IN THE LAST FOUR WEEKS HE HAS NOT RUN ANY NATIONWIDE RACES. YOU OCCASIONALLY RUN IN THE NATIONWIDE SERIES. IS THERE A CORRELATION BETWEEN HIS SUCCESS AND THE ABILITY TO FOCUS MORE ON THAT CUP CAR? “That’s where all along I thought he could do better once he focused more on the Cup car. It’s tough as a new driver coming in to gain the experience that you need on track and yes, he needed to do that for the first step. The second step, win that Nationwide championship. He did that. Third step, now we’ve got to get the Cup car as the primary focus and gel with his new crew chief Paul Wolfe. He’s done that now. Is it a coincidence that it happened here in these last few weeks? Personal injury to anybody makes everybody evaluate where they are. They have a lot of time to sit at home for rehab and he’s done that but it’s just clicked. It’s been great to watch and it’s been inspiring for myself and Steve Addington to know hey, the stuff’s right there. We just need to be on the front side of the eight-ball and not on the backside of the eight-ball with some of the things that we’ve positioned ourselves with on the 22 car. But for him not to run Nationwide I think the Cup focus is there and it’s great to see. I guess he’s locked in the Chase. Now he’s got to do that. He’s got to run hard in this Chase to be a championship contender.”

KYLE BUSCH
WILL YOU PLAY DIRTY LATE TO WIN THE BONUS? “I don’t know. Hopefully, if it’s against another guy who’s not eligible, they can put themselves in our shoes for a minute and think about the rewards of a fan and of the charity that certainly are going to be able to achieve that. I think you do what you got to do to win. If it’s a scenario where you come off turn four like Jeff Gordon and (Kevin) Harvick or Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards — certainly we’ve seen those types of races end that way here in Atlanta. I think you do all you can to try to win the race. Maybe look a little bit like Logano and myself last week at Bristol — try to use the guy up a little bit.”

CLINT BOWYER

Clint Bowyer had a great practice Friday (Getty)

WHAT IS YOUR BEST CHANCE TO GET INTO THE CHASE? IS IT TO GET TO 10TH, OR IS IT TO WIN A RACE? “Hail, Mary. You drop back, you go for it. I think we’re just going to have to race hard. We’re going to have to get things turned around. We’re going to have to have another opportunity like we did last week, but this time we’re going to have to capitalize on it. I mean that was the most frustrating thing I’ve ever had in my life is we literally had an opportunity right there in front of us for the taking and couldn’t take advantage of it. We were as bad as he was if not worse. And it’s just so frustrating as a racer and a competitor to have that opportunity right there in front of you and not be able to capitalize. It’s very, very frustrating.”

AS A FOLLOW-UP TO THAT, DOES THE PRESSURE INCREASE AS WE GET CLOSER TO RICHMOND? ALSO, TALK ABOUT THE PINK CAMARO PACE CAR RIDES FOR THE BREAST CANCER SURVIVORS THIS MORNING? “Obviously the pressure cooker is heating up bigtime. There are two races left to get ourselves in. The weird thing is that we ran terrible; one of the worst races we’ve had and we didn’t lose anything. We actually gained a point. But we did, if you look, at it because we’ve lost a race. You know, there’s only two races to go. Richmond is a really good track for us. I’m looking forward to Richmond. I’m looking forward to rolling in there with a chance and a decent chance. If I can narrow the gap and cut it in half, I feel like we can go into Richmond and get the job done.

“As far as the press conference this morning; well it wasn’t really a press conference. It was just a fun, neat deal around the American Cancer Society and breast cancer awareness. We just gave those ladies rides around in the car. What a fun morning to wake up to, those ladies celebrating life. They’ve all survived breast cancer and are all full of energy and full of excitement. They couldn’t wait to get out on the race track. It was just a great morning to wake up to that excitement. So, it’s cool that they’re doing the car for breast cancer awareness in pink; everybody knows what that’s all about. And those ladies were all having a lot of fun out there. I had one of them get pretty scared on me. She said to slow down and I thought she was joking and I looked over and she wasn’t joking (laughs). So we pulled in and took a pit stop.”

MATT KENSETH
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE SCHEDULE THIS WEEKEND? YOU DON’T HAVE PRACTICE AFTER QUALIFYING. “First of all, I don’t know who in the world came up with these track schedules this year, but they are just the goofiest thing I’ve ever seen. This place especially it’s gonna make it a little more difficult because today when practice gets over it gonna be as close as you get to race conditions, but that’ll be the fastest the track is and they line up qualifying order by how fast your lap is the first practice, so you’re gonna want to think about qualifying, and it’s a track we haven’t been to in a year or tested at, so it’s really unique. If I had it my way, and I was talking to Jimmy about it, we’d probably just work on race practice the whole time and just forget about qualifying. Get the best lap you can on qualifying day and wherever you start you start. It’s a four-hour race and the track is real wide. There are a lot of passing grooves out there, so qualifying is probably less important here than it is in a lot of places we go to. I think trying to hit that race setup that feels good is gonna be difficult to do, but it’s gonna be really important.”

$3 Million Reasons Why Kyle Busch Wants to Win at Atlanta

Kyle Busch's only Atlanta win came in spring of 2008 (Getty)

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. (Aug. 30, 2011) – If there’s a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver who doesn’t need any more motivation for winning, it’s probably Kyle Busch.

But the driver of the No. 18 Pedigree Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) may have a few more reasons – 3 million of them, to be exact – to bring home a victory in Sunday night’s Advocare 500 Sprint Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

That’s because the talented 26-year-old, with his win two races ago at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, qualified for the Sprint Summer Showdown, which culminates with this weekend’s race at Atlanta. Race winners during a five-race stretch, starting with last month’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and ending with last weekend’s race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, became eligible for a big payout if they can find victory lane at Atlanta this weekend.

Joining Busch among race-winners over the last five events are Brad Keselowski – who won twice in that stretch –Marcos Ambrose and Paul Menard, and they will be vying for $3 million dollars overall on Sunday night. If one of those four drivers were to win at Atlanta, $1 million would go to the driver’s charity of choice, $1 million to a selected fan, and $1 million to the winning driver, himself. With all that at stake, it’s a good bet the aforementioned drivers will do whatever it takes to bring home the big money.

But beyond Sunday’s night’s race at Atlanta, Busch and his No. 18 Pedigree team have their eyes on a really big trophy and another shot at really big money that goes to the 2011 Sprint Cup champion. In order to do so, the team will hope to add one or two more wins to its resume of four wins thus far this season in hopes of building as many bonus points – three for each win – heading into the final 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship, for which Busch is already locked in.

Will Busch be able to win his fifth Sprint Cup race of the season Sunday night in Atlanta? There are at least 3 million of reasons for him to want to do just that. But, then again, the Las Vegas native has never lacked motivation.

KYLE BUSCH QUOTES

Are you excited to be involved in the Sprint Summer Showdown? “When Sprint announced the bonus plan for the Sprint Summer Showdown, all of us got excited and we’re pretty pumped up about it. It’s a neat opportunity for us to have something to really shoot for and to go out there and try to win the race for it. Ultimately, we still have to be smart and play it out as we would any other week. For us, it’s great to be in position. That’s why we’ve been trying to win so badly the last couple of weeks, to give us the opportunity to go for it. With our win at Michigan, we have the opportunity. Certainly, we want to put all of our eggs in that basket to try to win Sunday night with our Pedigree Camry.”

Busch will use his runner-up Pocono chassis this week

Do you think you are in a good place heading into the Chase? “We’re certainly in a really good spot, right now, going into the Chase. We just have to be in a really good spot throughout the Chase. We’ve got the most wins, right now, and we’re leading the points. All that changes when we get to Chicago. We’ll see what happens in the next couple of weeks. We’d like to get a couple more wins if we can. There are a couple of really good tracks coming up for us, including Richmond. Atlanta has been decent for us, so we’ll see.”

Is your preparation different for a night race? “For me, yeah you prepare a little bit differently. It’s a night race so it’s not so hot. You don’t have to do as much as you might for a day race with cooling and everything inside the car, but it still will be a warm one, for sure. For me, it’s just about the whole week ahead of time. You’ve got to stay hydrated and make sure you keep yourself from cramping up or something like that. With hot weekends as we get out here, that could certainly be a challenging aspect. I’ve done it before and I’ll probably still do it again.”


What does it take to be successful at Atlanta? “It takes a lot of things. You have to have a lot of grip, you have to have a lot of down-force, you have to have tire management, a great engine, and fuel mileage, too. There are a lot of circumstances it can come down to at the end and what it will boil down to.”


What are your memories of racing in Atlanta? “I’ve won a few truck races there, which has been fun. I have not won a Nationwide race there. I finished second three or four times, so it’s been an Achilles heel for me, I guess. The Cup races there, I’ve either been really good or mediocre or really bad. There have been times where I’ve been really good throughout the event. Last year, I think Denny (Hamlin) and I were first and second for a long time and then I kind of faded off and he ran really well until he blew up. And we finished fifth, I think. I’ve finished 12th there like seven times, I guess. I don’t know what it is, but I just can’t seem to keep the grip in my car for the long haul, as long you need throughout a run. I’m really fast for the first five, eight laps. But then, after that, I seem to slip more than anyone else.”

You gave Toyota its first Sprint Cup Series win by scoring a victory at Atlanta in March 2008. What do you remember about that? “Running in Atlanta and being able to put Toyota in victory lane for the first time, that was special for me and for Joe Gibbs Racing and everybody. Certainly, that was neat. We’ve put Toyota in victory lane a lot more times since then, so it’s been really good for all of us and, hopefully, we can do it again.”


You’re competing in all three NASCAR races this week at Atlanta – Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck. Talk about that. “For me, running the Friday race and Saturday race, it’s just the extra track time you get. The extra chances you get behind the wheel. How the track will change throughout a run. The tires at Atlanta wear out so fast that you can feel the slip of the car more and just trying to feel how much you can slip it and how hard you can run the tire before you actually really lose total grip. So, a lot of that stuff plays into being able to run all three there.”

What challenges does the day-to-night format present at Atlanta in the Sprint Cup race? “Certainly, we practice all during the day, so the daytime practice is easy for the beginning of the race, but how the racetrack picks up speed and certainly gets faster throughout the night and, of course, the balance can change a little bit. With the speed getting faster, certainly the loads change a little bit for you, so you have to be conscious of that. The crew chiefs are good at what they do and that’s why they get paid the big bucks is to try to figure out what best suits the cars for nighttime, because that’s when the race is going to end. Certainly, you want to be good at night.”

What did you think of the speed at Atlanta the first time you raced there? “My first time there was 2003 in a Nationwide Series car and it was definitely fast. It’s all relative. You run the same speed around everybody and it really doesn’t feel that fast, so it feels like you do anywhere else, whether you’re at Las Vegas or Chicago or Kansas or any of those places.”

KYLE'S CHASSIS CHOICE: This chassis will make its second-ever start in Sunday night’s Advocare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. No. 318 made its debut in August at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, where Busch started 11th, led 27 laps, and brought home a solid second-place finish in the Good Sam RV Insurance 500.

- True Speed Communication for Joe Gibbs Racing, Press Release

Las Vegas Hilton Super Book Odds To Win IRWIN Tools Night Race at Bristol

Kyle Busch is the heavy 5-to-2 Bristol favorite; he's won 4 of the last 5. 

IRWIN TOOLS NIGHT RACE
BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2011

CARL EDWARDS 8
JIMMIE JOHNSON 5
KYLE BUSCH 5-2
JEFF GORDON 12
MATT KENSETH 15
KEVIN HARVICK 12
DENNY HAMLIN 12
KURT BUSCH 10
TONY STEWART 18
DALE EARNHARDT JR 30
GREG BIFFLE 18
KASEY KAHNE 25
CLINT BOWYER 30
RYAN NEWMAN 30
BRAD KESELOWSKI 25
JOEY LOGANO 40
MARTIN TRUEX JR 50
DAVID RAGAN 50
JUAN MONTOYA 60
MARK MARTIN 30
JEFF BURTON 50
JAMIE McMURRAY 100
BRIAN VICKERS 100
DAVID REUTIMANN 50
PAUL MENARD 50
AJ ALLMENDINGER 100
MARCOS AMBROSE 100
REGAN SMITH 200
BOBBY LABONTE 1000
FIELD 300

Johnson and Busch are 3-to-1 co-favorites to win the Championship

2011 SPRINT CUP CHAMPIONSHIP (updated 8-22-11)
JIMMIE JOHNSON 3
DENNY HAMLIN 15
CARL EDWARDS 9-2
KEVIN HARVICK 8
KYLE BUSCH 3
JEFF GORDON 7
GREG BIFFLE 40
TONY STEWART 25
MATT KENSETH 8
CLINT BOWYER 40
KURT BUSCH 15
MARK MARTIN 60
JOEY LOGANO 100
JEFF BURTON 500
JUAN MONTOYA 500
KASEY KAHNE 60
JAMIE McMURRAY 500
RYAN NEWMAN 30
BRIAN VICKERS 500
DAVID REUTIMANN 500
DALE EARNHARDT JR 30
AJ ALLMENDINGER 100
MARTIN TRUEX JR 100
PAUL MENARD 100
DAVID RAGAN 100
BRAD KESELOWSKI 25
MARCOS AMBROSE 100
FIELD 1000

Kyle Busch Watkins Glen Preview

Kyle Busch is using same 11th-place car from Sonoma in June (Getty)

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. (Aug. 9, 2011) – The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ two annual visits to road courses may look similar to some casual fans, but to Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), there’s a stark contrast from Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. and Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International, site of Sunday’s Helluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen.

So much so that Busch describes how different the two road course layouts are by comparing Infineon to Martinsville, the smallest Sprint Cup oval, while comparing Watkins Glen to Talladega, the longest oval on the circuit.

Even though both road circuits are very much different, one thing they do have in common for Busch is that the talented 26-year-old always feels as if he has a shot to win whenever he visits Infineon each June, and Watkins Glen each August.

For a racer who grew up on the short track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway known as the “Bullring,” Busch has always had a soft spot for the oval tracks, and short tracks in particular. But, even though he grew up on the short-track scene, he has taken to road-course racing quite well, especially since joining JGR at the beginning of 2008. That year, he dominated at the road courses, leading 130 of the total 202 laps contested en route to victories at both Infineon and Watkins Glen.

As if that weren’t enough, Busch started things off in April of that year by capturing his first road-course victory of any kind when he competed with the NASCAR Nationwide Series at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, where he led twice for a total of 22 laps on his way to victory lane.

So while Busch’s success on the road courses in recent years reflects his newfound enjoyment of mixing right turns with lefts, he stands firm in his belief that two road-course races per year are quite a different experience for him and his M&M’s team. As for this weekend at The Glen, Busch hopes a healthy dose of right turns helps him navigate his way right to victory lane in a repeat performance of his 2008 win there. The precious bonus points – two for each win scored during the 26-race “regular season” – would certainly come in handy with the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup starting just five races after the checkered flag flies on Sunday.

KYLE BUSCH QUOTES

What is the difference for drivers at Watkins Glen compared to Sonoma?

“Sonoma is kind of like Martinsville and Watkins Glen is kind of like Talladega. That’s how different they are. Watkins Glen seems like it’s an easier road course for these cars and for us to be on. They’re not as agile as other sports cars are. We’re 3,400-pound racecars where other sports cars are maybe 2,500 or 2,800 pounds. You can throw them around a lot easier. Their brakes are a lot better and they stop a lot better. With as big and heavy of tanks as these (Sprint Cup cars have), we seem to have a problem, already, not running into each other, let alone being on a tight road course like Sonoma certainly adds a challenge.”

Can you afford to gamble on fuel mileage at Watkins Glen?

“We certainly can. We’re in the predicament that we can take some pretty good gambles like we did at Indy recently. We were going to finish about 30th if we didn’t do what we did there and come in and get fuel and try to stretch it the three laps we were short. In doing that, it gave us a good finish and it gave us a top-10 finish, so that was good. Watkins Glen, we can probably do the same thing if we need to with our M&M’s Camry.”

What does it take to be successful at Watkins Glen?

“At Watkins Glen, the biggest thing is pit strategy. Obviously, you’ve got to pick and choose when you’re going to pit and stick to your plan. Whether or not we can still do it on two stops, I’m unsure because Sonoma turned into a three-stop race for us all because the new fuel mileage is a little bit off than what we were here last year with the old fuel. Watkins Glen though, you definitely have got to be good at being able to carry speed, obviously, through the esses and down the long backstretch. That seems to be the key part to the racetrack.”

Will we see a lot of drivers getting into each other at Watkins Glen like we did at Sonoma?

“I think you will. Yeah, you’ll see a little bit of it, especially on restarts and stuff like that. Watkins Glen is a place where we get a little bit more spread out throughout the run. Certainly, there are some areas where some guys can make some moves. Like, getting into turn one, you can out-brake somebody really good. Getting into the bus stop, you can out-brake somebody pretty good there, too. It’s like Marcos (Ambrose) did to me in 2009, I think it was in the Nationwide Series. If you out-brake somebody getting in there and you both are already on so much edge, one of you is going to have to give. If you’re that guy on the inside, you’re going to run into the guy on your left and you’re going to put him off into the island, there, in the grass. You’ve got to be conscious of that. That’s why I got out of the way and stopped when I had my problem there.”

Do you prefer Watkins Glen over Infineon Raceway?

“No, not really. I like both road courses. They’re both fun. For me, road racing is enjoyable. You get a chance to turn right and turn left and do something different than what you typically do. For me, I’m excited about it. Hopefully, we have a good shot at running well there again this year with our M&M’s Camry. We won three years ago and finished fourth and eighth there the last couple of years, so we’ve been decent and, hopefully this time around, we’ll do the same.”

When did you become better at road-course racing?

“I think I really hit it probably in ’07, when I was still at Hendrick. I think I finished 10th out at Sonoma, or something. We had an OK day. But then, at Watkins Glen, I think I was running fifth or fourth, just passed Jeff Gordon, and that’s when my track bar broke and I went six laps down fixing that, got all the ‘Lucky Dogs’ to get back on the lead lap, and finished 12th. But we were really fast and we were good. I took that experience from ’07 into ’08 with the M&M’s car and Joe Gibbs Racing and we swept both races and were pretty good at it. I feel like I’m a relatively good road-course racer. It took me a little bit to get used to it, to figure out how hard to charge the corners or how hard not to charge the corners, and different braking techniques.”

Chassis Selection:
This chassis will make its second-ever start in the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen Sunday afternoon at Watkins Glen(N.Y.) International. No. 305 made its first start during the first road-course event of 2011 in the June Toyota Save/Mart 350k at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. Busch started 19th and brought home solid 11th-place finish.

Kyle Busch Hopes to Figure Out 'Tricky' Brickyard With New Chassis

Best finish at Indy: Fourth-place in 2007

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. (July 26, 2011) – Anyone who has watched the racing career of Kyle Busch knows he’s found a knack for putting his name in the record books.

Over the course of his relatively short NASCAR career, the driver of the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), who heads to historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway for Sunday’s Brickyard 400 Sprint Cup Series race, seems to have taken full advantage of his opportunities to make history in each of NASCAR’s top three series.

It started when Busch was just 16 years old and became the youngest driver to start a Camping World Truck Series event when he took the green flag at Indianapolis Raceway Park in Clermont, Ind. The date was Aug. 3, 2001.

In 2005, at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., Busch was just 20 years and 125 days old when he became the youngest Sprint Cup winner ever – a record he held until June 2009 when his JGR teammate Joey Logano won at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon at 19 years and 35 days old.

Logano might have broken Busch’s record for youngest Sprint Cup winner, but Busch still is the youngest driver to win a Sprint Cup pole – a feat he accomplished in February 2005, also at Fontana, in just his eighth career Sprint Cup start.

Fast-forward to two weekends ago at New Hampshire, where Busch won his 49th career Nationwide Series race, tying the venerable Mark Martin for the all-time series win record. In the process of tying that record, Busch also tallied his 100th win among NASCAR’s top three divisions – Sprint Cup (22), Nationwide (49) and Camping World Truck (29) with that Nationwide win at New Hampshire.

What might be the next major accomplishment on the talented 26-year-old’s list? Perhaps achieving the highly coveted personal milestone of scoring the victory this weekend at auto racing’s most historic venue for the very first time?

Busch would like nothing more than to add to his win list a race he and his fellow competitors consider part of the Sprint Cup’s “Big Three” – the Daytona 500 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway, and the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis.

Earning the right to kiss the Yard of Bricks come Sunday afternoon would shoot straight to the top of Busch’s growing list of accomplishments, for certain. And if records are made to be broken, it seems Busch was made to keep breaking records for years to come.

KYLE BUSCH QUOTES

What does it take to be successful at Indianapolis?
“Indianapolis is probably one of the trickiest places we go to on the schedule – Pocono being one, Darlington being one, Indy being another. It’s so hard to find a particular line that really, really works for you or really works for your car because the groove is so narrow. It’s plenty wide for one or one-and-a-half cars, but the line that you run around there, you vary six inches and it feels so different. You really have to be particular in hitting your marks and getting your car set up. The way that it changes throughout the weekend, going from practice, when there’s not much rubber on the racetrack, and then to the race, with a lot of rubber on the racetrack – the trajectory of the corners changes. How wide do you enter the corner? How long do you stay out? How sharp do you turn down? Indy’s definitely a particular racetrack and it’s exciting for us all to go there, especially with the history there and the prestige of winning that event. I’d love nothing more than to win there on Sunday with my M&M’s Camry. It would be something cool. Been close a couple times, but I’d like to get a little closer.”

Where does Indy rank on the list of prestigious wins in this series?
“It’s number two. It’s right there. Daytona is one, Indy is two. They’re both pretty close. Daytona probably pays a little bit more because NASCAR has to do that. Indy is an important racetrack for a lot of people. The history of that place, it’s all been Indy cars. But it’s still one of the first big superspeedways in America dating back to the early 1900s. There’s a lot there that everyone always wants to win.”

Did you watch the Indy 500 growing up?
“I never really paid much attention to Indy car stuff growing up. I always kind of watched it to see the cars go around there. And I’d always watch a little bit during the month of May to see what kind of speeds they were turning, and what the new rules were when they came out with new rules to slow the cars down, and to see the guys get them going faster again. It was always fun to watch that. Then you get to the race and it wasn’t a whole lot for me to watch or learn.”

Busch has fond memories of Jeff Gordon and the Brickyard

Do you remember when you first heard the words Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indy 500, Brickyard 400?
“Probably the first time I knew of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, or the Indy 500, was back in the ’80s – probably ’89, maybe even 1990. Of course, the first time I knew of the Brickyard 400 was ’94, being a big Jeff Gordon fan and following him growing up in Las Vegas. When he came into the sport a few years earlier and won the Coca-Cola 600, and then carried that into the Brickyard 400, and then won that race right off the bat, that was quite an accomplishment, for sure.”

What is it about Indianapolis Motor Speedway that makes it unique compared to other tracks that the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series visits?
“It’s very tight down the straightaways. You roll through (turns) one and two, and there are people on the inside, there are people on the outside, there are people in the grass, just sitting along the back straightaway on the inside. You’ve got the golf course there, and fans sitting on the hills underneath the trees. You start back up into turn three, with the grandstands going around (turns) three and four, and then down the frontstretch and, again, there are two tunnels. There’s a tunnel at the (turns) one and two side, and on the (turns) three and four side. There’s a center road that runs all the way through and then, coming down the frontstretch again, looking on both sides of you, you’ve got the pit road, which is really narrow and really tight, and the grandstands on the inside and the outside. So, you’re going down a ‘V’ of just people – a sea of people. Coming to the Pagoda and the media center, the way it is, and of course the scoring pylon being as tall as it is, you come down there and, if you’re leading the race, sometimes you can’t see that high, so you’re kind of wondering who is second and third, or who is behind you. It stinks when you’re running in the back because you can see yourself right there.”

Joe Gibbs Racing has won at The Brickyard three times – twice with Tony Stewart, once with Bobby Labonte. What are your thoughts on Coach Gibbs’ history at Indianapolis and what it would mean to add a Brickyard 400 trophy to your trophy case?
“Coach, being as successful as he has been there with Tony, and him being a big name from Indiana, wanting to win there, being a Hoosier, himself, that’s cool. I’m sure it was big for those guys. Bobby (Labonte) winning the year he won the championship for Joe Gibbs Racing at that racetrack was cool, with Jimmy Makar and all those guys. I’m just wishing one day I can put my name on that list by getting a win at that track and trying to run up front. You always want to win the big races. You want to win the Brickyard 400, the Daytona 500, the Coca-Cola 600 – some of those big races – before your career is over.”

Brand new chassis for Kyle Busch at the Brickyard

Chassis No. 315:
This is a brand new chassis that is slated to see action for the first time in Sunday’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Notes of Interest:
· The Brickyard 400 will mark Busch’s 242nd career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start and his seventh Sprint Cup start at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

· Busch has career totals of 22 wins, seven poles, 76 top-fives, 114 top-10s and 6,731 laps led in 241 career Sprint Cup races. His most recent Sprint Cup win came two races ago at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta. Although he started first at Kentucky by virtue of his top practice speed after qualifying was rained out, NASCAR does not credit him with the pole. His last pole qualifying effort came 42 races ago at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway.

· Busch has one top-five, four top-10s, and has led a total of 39 laps in six career Sprint Cup starts at Indianapolis. His average Indianapolis finish is 13.7.

· While he was the Sprint Cup points leader heading into New Hampshire two weekends ago, his 36th-place finish in the 19th race of the season dropped him from first to fifth in the championship point standings. He now has 632 points and is 20 markers behind new series leader Carl Edwards.

· During each race, bonus points are awarded – one point for leading a lap, one point for leading the most laps and three points for winning the race. Busch has accumulated 27 bonus points this season, more than any other driver. Kevin Harvick is next-best with 20 bonus points. The bonus point total Busch has collected thus far in 2011 is the equivalent of an extra 17th-place finish in a race without leading a lap.

· After the 19 Sprint Cup races held thus far in 2011, Busch leads the Sprint Cup Series in 11 statistical categories and is in the top-two in one other category:
Ø Best average running position (10.219)
Ø Fastest in laps run (471, or 9.9 percent)
Ø Best driver rating (108.6)
Ø Most laps led (1,060, or 18.9 percent)
Ø Most miles led (1,221.25)
Ø Most laps in the top-15 (4,534, or 81.0 percent)
Ø Fastest driver early in a run (5.200 rank)
Ø Best green-flag speed (4.933 rank)
Ø Fastest speed in traffic (8.158 rank)
Ø Fastest driver on restarts (11.947 rank)
Ø Most quality passes (1,347)
Ø Second-fastest driver late in a run (6.867 rank)

· Reaching the Century Mark: After winning the Nationwide Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon two weekends ago, Busch reached 100 career wins among NASCAR’s top three divisions – Sprint Cup (22), Nationwide (49) and Truck (29). In addition to hitting the 100-win milestone, Busch’s win at New Hampshire was the 49th of his career in the Nationwide Series, tying the venerable Mark Martin for the all-time series win record.

· 22 and Climbing: With his historic win in the inaugural Sprint Cup race at Kentucky three weekends ago, the 22nd Sprint Cup win of his young career, Busch jumped to 29th on the all-time Sprint Cup win list with two-time champion Terry Labonte.

· Right on ‘Track:’ Of the 29 tracks that will host NASCAR’s top three divisions in 2011, Busch has competed at every circuit but one (Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis.) and has won at 24 of them. There are only three current Sprint Cup venues – Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, Pocono, and Indianapolis – where Busch has not scored a victory in any of NASCAR’s top three series. Busch will focus on running just one race in Indianapolis this weekend – Sunday’s Brickyard 400 Sprint Cup race.

· Good Things Come in Threes: By winning the Sprint Cup and Camping World Truck Series races at Kentucky two races ago, coupled with his 2004 win in the Nationwide Series race at Kentucky, Busch upped his total to nine tracks at which he has won in all three of NASCAR’s top three series. Those include Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., Phoenix International Raceway, Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, Dover (Del.) International Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., and New Hampshire.

· 20 Times Three: Since joining Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota at the start of 2008, Busch notched 21 overall wins in 2008, 20 in 2009, and a career-high 24 victories in 2010, making him the only driver in NASCAR history to have three consecutive 20-plus-win seasons across NASCAR’s top three divisions. He has 14 overall wins thus far in 2011.

· Toyota Trophies: Busch has earned 80 overall wins driving Toyota equipment in NASCAR’s top three series.

- True Speed Communication for Joe Gibbs Racing, Press Release

Kyle Busch Wins Inaugural NASCAR Sprint Cup Race at Kentucky

Sporting News Wire Service

Kyle Busch wins two of three Kentucky races this week

SPARTA, Ky. -- What was Kyle Busch's dominant impression of his victory in the inaugural Sprint Cup race at Kentucky Speedway?

It wasn't that he'll be written into the record book as the first Cup winner at the 1.5-mile track, the first speedway introduced into the series in 10 years.

No, Busch will remember Saturday's Quaker State 400 at Kentucky as the last thing he won on the way to his next race -- in this case Sunday's marquee Super Late Model event at Slinger Speedway in Wisconsin.

That's the way Busch thinks -- win and move on.

In holding off fast-closing David Reutimann and Jimmie Johnson in a two-lap stretch run, Busch won for the third time this season, the 22nd time in his Cup career and the 99th time across NASCAR's top three national series, third most all-time.

Even though he won two of the three events at Kentucky Speedway over the weekend -- he won the Camping World Truck Series race Thursday -- Busch wasn't thinking about the numbers, not even that he had leap-frogged past Kevin Harvick (16th Saturday) and Carl Edwards (fifth) into the top spot in the series standings.

Asked what the most impressive part of the Kentucky win was to him, Busch replied, "That I won on the way to Slinger. I've got to go to Slinger [Sunday]. I'm going to stay here tonight, chill out and get a good night's sleep, get out of here in the morning and head up there and, hopefully, win a Late Model race."

Saturday's race wasn't settled until Busch kept Johnson at bay on the last restart, clearing Johnson's No. 48 Chevrolet off Turn 2. Reutimann restarted in the fourth spot but charged forward, passing Johnson just short of the finish line on the final lap. Reutimann finished .179 seconds behind Busch.

Johnson said his inability to stay beside Busch on the next-to-last lap cost him a chance to win the race.

"I was able to hang with the 18 [Busch] inside of Turns 1 and 2, and he just cleared me going down the back," Johnson said. "The outside lane had a little bit more momentum coming off of [Turn] 2 down the back. If I could have stayed inside of him, it would have been one heck of a finish at the end.

"But it didn't happen that way, and then he cleared me and went on, and then I had my hands full with the 00 [Reutimann]. David was probably the best car at the end, and if he had cleared me sooner, I think he would have been up there with the 18 racing for the win."

Ryan Newman played pit strategy perfectly and came home fourth, followed by Edwards. Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski, David Ragan, Kurt Busch and Jeff Gordon completed the top 10.

Read More Here...

Quaker State 400 Results

Kentucky Post-Race Notes

• Kyle Busch's victory in the inaugural Cup race at Kentucky Speedway was his 22nd series victory in his 240th start.
• Kyle Busch tied Kevin Harvick with his third victory of the season and assumed the Cup points lead by four points over Carl Edwards.
• Kyle Busch won from the pole, the first driver to do that in a Cup race in 2011.
• Five of Kyle Busch's 22 career victories (23 percent) have come from the pole.
• It was the fourth win of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2011, tying Roush Fenway Racing for the most.
• David Reutimann (second) scored his best finish of 2011 and only his second top-10 in 18 races.
• Jimmie Johnson (third) finished in the top 10 for the 11th time this season.
• Ryan Newman (fourth) earned his best finish of 2011.
• Carl Edwards (fifth) picked up his 13th top-10 finish in 18 races, the most of any driver.
• Matt Kenseth (sixth) has finished 14th or better in each of the past eight races.
• Jamie McMurray (36th) blew his engine and has not finished in the top 10 in the past eight races.

Driver Notes & Quotes For The Quaker State 400 at Kentucky

MARTIN TRUEX JR. ON KENTUCKY: “Kentucky is a great track and it’s certainly deserving of a Cup race. I’ve raced there in the Nationwide Series and won the pole and had a shot at winning every time I’ve raced there. A lot of the teams used to test there so it’s not totally new to us. I love the place. The fans are really supporting the event. It’s completely sold out so it’s going to be fun. Plus, NAPA is running another special paint scheme to help fans save money throughout the month of July with mail-in rebates on select batteries like the NAPA Legend 75. Fans can get $10 off. Select alternators and starters are also part of the deal. Plus, my boss, Michael is running in front of his hometown crowd and saluting his brother Darrell for making it into the Hall of Fame. It’s really going to be special.”

KEVIN HARVICK ON KENTUCKY: “I’d say every one of us has been there in some way, shape or form. Some of the guys may not have raced there, but I know for me, when I first raced there was in 2001. Through the years, there has been a lot of testing that has taken place at that particular race track. I think it’s a race track everyone is pretty familiar with, but not familiar with this new-style car there, as everything was probably done with the old car. So it’ll still be a challenge for sure. I think just knowing that the tire is good. It’s a very durable tire. You’re not on edge. I think the biggest thing is just putting that to bed and knowing that we’re not going to have any tire issues. For me, I’m a rhythm racer. I’m not going to be one of those guys who’s just going to go out there and shove the thing in the fence by just trying to go fast right off the bat. I’m going to creep up and kind of know the limits of my car and keep pushing them until I feel like that’s the edge.”

HARVICK CHASSIS CHOICE: Kevin Harvick will race chassis No. 288 from the Richard Childress Racing NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stable. The team utilized this car eight times in 2010, earning one win (Michigan, 8/15), three top-five (Fontana, 2/21; Indianapolis, 7/25) and six top-10 finishes. Harvick also raced this car to a fifth-place finish earlier this year at Pocono (6/12).

Busch is using Kansas car this week

KYLE BUSCH ON WHAT TYPE OF RACING TO EXPECT AT KENTUCKY: “I couldn’t expect anything but some good, hard racing. Kentucky is a fast racetrack. There are a lot of sweeping corners, there, so you’ve really got to keep your momentum going and it’s a big momentum-type racetrack. There’s a lot of throttle-on time there. You carry a lot of good speed but, yet, the place is really wide, so you’ve got room for maneuverability. You can run the bottom. It seems like you can run the middle. I don’t know how great the top will be, but we’ll have to see once we get there and what kind of tire we’re on.”

KYLE BUSCH CHASSIS CHOICE: This chassis will make its second-ever start in Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta. No. 308 made its debut last month at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, where Busch started third and finished 12th.

JIMMIE JOHNSON ON KENTUCKY: “Been there (Kentucky Speedway) in a Nationwide car and then when I first came on board, we tested there a lot. We didn’t have the testing restrictions that we do today. Turned a lot of laps over there; a lot like pretty much every driver out of my generation. We would be there amongst four or five other teams and guys running like crazy. I’m sure it’s changed a lot since the last time we were there and it looks like we have an open test day on Thursday, July 7 leading into that weekend. That will be good for all the teams. I don’t think we’ll have an advantage by any means. It will be nice to go there, get some data, get used to the track, work on some setup stuff and then kind of get the flow of the race track once again.”

DALE EARNHARDT JR. ON KENTUCKY: “We have all been there testing so there is no real challenge. Everybody has tested there at least a dozen times in their careers, so, it’s not like opening up a new place. We just haven’t had a full-on race there and everybody will be trying. When you test, you don’t get around cars as much. Everybody will be wantin’ to get on the race track and get around people and see how the aero is and see what you need to work on with your car when you are in traffic.”

EARNHARDT JR. CHASSIS CHOICE: Crew chief Steve Letarte will unload Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 88-657 for this weekend's Cup event at Kentucky. Earnhardt last raced this chassis to a runner-up finish at Kansas Speedway in June. The team will test this chassis during Thursday's open test at Kentucky.

JEFF GORDON ON KENTUCKY: “It has been a while since I’ve tested there so seeing if anything has changed. It’s a new track so we don’t have a lot of data. I mean some of the guys have run there in Nationwide maybe have a little more experience on the track. I think adapting to a track that you are not as familiar with from a driver standpoint as well as the set up, the springs and shocks and combinations, it’s a pretty rough race track, so I think to battle the grip level and getting the car aero-wise to get the most grip out of it but also handling the bumps is probably the biggest challenge from a technical standpoint. We used to test there all the time. It’s the one track that we could test at before it became a Cup track, so I think if we go back to those notes that’s certainly going to give some information but the most valuable would be the tire test that Mark martin did. That’s the most current data that we have with more of the cars and set ups that we are running today. We’ll hopefully get something out of it.”

CLINT BOWYER ON KENTUCKY: “I think it’s great. I’ve raced there a couple times in a NASCAR Nationwide Series car. That’s a huge fan base out there, there’s no question about that. Kentucky Speedway is the only place we can pack the house in a Nationwide Series stand-alone event. I think it’s going to surprise a lot of people at how many fans are attending that race. The track is rough. You’re really going to have your hands full trying to get a good package on your car to get through those bumps. The goal is to bounce through the bumps better than the next guy. No one is going to bounce through them well, but you want to be able to bounce through them better than the next guy. Noone really has an advantage from racing there before; I mean all these guys are professionals. It doesn’t matter where we go, they’re going to adapt and get up to speed. It’s going to come down to who can get their suspension and chassis packages working the best. They are the people that will prevail at a place like Kentucky Speedway.”

BOWYER CHASSIS CHOICE: Will be using his 18th-place Kansas chassis.

Newman has plenty of track time at Kentucky (Getty)

RYAN NEWMAN ON KENTUCKY: “I look forward to going to Kentucky. I was one of the first people to win at Kentucky Speedway back in the ARCA series when they opened the place up in 2000. I think it was actually the track’s third race at that point, or something like that. I started on the pole, led a lot of laps and ended up winning the race, which was a pretty big feather in our cap at that point in time. It was my third start for Penske Racing in the ARCA Series, and I ended up getting my first pole and my second win. So it was a pretty big deal for me and that team and that point in time. So going back to Kentucky is going to be pretty cool for me. Going back to a place that few people in the Sprint Cup Series have won at and a place you have history at where other people don’t, is a good thing.

"I definitely think it’s a great track and a great market and I look forward to it. I don’t think there’s going to be huge challenges at Kentucky. Between our practice sessions – the opening test day and our practices on Friday – on top of the fact that a lot of guys have had experience there in the Nationwide or Truck Series. It’s part of the cookie cutter spectrum of racetracks where it’s a mile-and-a-half, semi-banked. I don’t think there are going to be any big issues. It’s a little bit of a rougher racetrack from what I understand. I haven’t been up there to test for a while. Just getting a good shock package and getting a good feel for what the tire is up there is going to be a big part of it, but we have a lot of practice to do that. If we don’t get it figured out by race time on Saturday night, it’s out own fault.”

NEWMAN CHASSIS CHOICE: In five previous starts, chassis No. 39-609 has two top-five and three top-10 finishes. The car made its debut at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July 2010 in the Brickyard 400. The car got rave reviews, but Newman’s bad luck kept him from the finish he felt he deserved. Back-to-back flat tires early in the race trapped Newman two laps down and dropped him as low as 39th. But, thanks to the
team’s tenacity, Newman was able to stage an impressive comeback and got back on the lead lap with 15 laps to go to finish a respectable 17th.

The car’s second start came at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., last fall. After racing in the top-10 and even contending for the lead, Newman was forced to restart deep in the field with just a handful of laps remaining due to damage to his left rear bumper. Newman proved how strong his car and determination were in the last 13 laps of the 200-lap contest as he raced from 16th to fifth.

Its final appearance of the 2010 season came at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. Newman was in position to score a top-10 finish, however, he was overtaken by several cars with fresher tires on a late restart and finished 20th. During the offseason, the car’s front clip was updated for 2011.

The car’s first appearance this year came in March at Auto Club Speedway. Thanks to key adjustments and pit strategy throughout the 200-lap race, Newman scored his third top-five of the season. Newman followed up that impressive run with a top-10 finish that didn’t come easily for he and his team at Pocono. With 21 laps to go, Newman lost third gear in his transmission. Thankfully, there wasn’t a late-race caution and Newman was able to fight through the adversity and hang onto a ninth place finish. Saturday’s Inaugural Sprint Cup Series Race at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta will be the car’s third start this year.

TONY STEWART ON KENTUCKY: “I’m excited about going to Kentucky. I like going to new places that we don’t have history at. Obviously, there’s a lot of drivers that have run the Nationwide Series there and do know the track and what to look for. It’s kind of fun for a lot of us. None of us have raced there that don’t run the Nationwide Series on a regular basis. Even though at some point over the last seven or eight years, we’ve tested there, none of us have raced there. That kind of makes it fun. It’s neat to go in there and not have an idea of what to expect. It always makes it fun the first time. The first thing you do is try to figure the line out around the track and when we’ve tested there in the past, we didn’t have a lot of rubber down because there weren’t a lot of cars running a lot of laps.

"It was a lot harder to really get a gauge on what the line was around there. That’s what you’ll spend the first part of the day on – on Thursday, the practice day. You’ll just work on the line, figuring out your braking points, where you need to be getting back in the gas and at the same time the crew chiefs and the engineers are going to be trying to figure out how to get ride heights where they want it. The standard things that they do every weekend. The drivers are going to have to take a little bit of time in learning the race track. We’ve all had to do it all along the way, but that’s the first thing to do is just literally try to figure out where your reference points are for braking and accelerating for entering the corner.”

Montoya using third-place Las Vegas car this week

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA ON KENTUCKY: “To be honest with you, my first time around Kentucky Speedway didn’t go as well as I had hoped. It was a test session and the first time I ever drove a Cup car for Chip Ganassi. I hit the wall pretty hard. A lot has changed in those five years so hopefully there won’t be anymore contact with the wall this time around. We need a good run in order to have a chance to make the Chase this year. Every weekend counts and we’re starting to run out of time in the points battle. I’d like to get the Target Chevrolet out front early and stay there.”

MONTOYA CHASSIS CHOICE: The No. 42 Target team will bring Chassis #1105 to Kentucky Speedway this weekend. This chassis has already run four times in 2011 at Texas Motor Speedway, Darlington Raceway, Kansas Speedway and got its best finish (third) at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March.

MARK MARTIN ON KENTUCKY: “I’ve tested at Kentucky before. This team has tested here before. But testing there and knowing you’re going to race on that specific track is different. It will be a help to us. A good starting point. But, really, when you throw in all of the testing time that all of the teams will get on Thursday, it will even out a little. That’s a lot of time on the track for everyone and I think that will prove to be the most valuable. With the amount of testing time we get on Thursday, we’re all going to be able to figure our own cars out. I don’t think we’re going to be as dependent on past information or knowledge due to that testing period.”

JEFF BURTON ON KENTUCKY: “I’ve always said that the tracks that can bring people in are the ones that deserve races. Kentucky Speedway, from what I’ve heard about their sales, the fans have really supported them. I think that’s a great thing. It’s cool to go somewhere else, to a new circuit. I always think that is neat. The local fans will be excited and energized about it and I’m optimistic. The only concern I have about Kentucky Speedway is how rough the surface is. These cars seem to put on the best races at tracks that are a little bit smoother. That’s my only concern about the race track. I think the race track itself is a good race track. I think it can put on a typical (Sprint) Cup race, which means it could be a great finish or someone could drive away from everyone. The bumps will be a huge factor as to who has success there and who doesn’t. It’s interesting because some people have raced there and some people that have not. A lot of times, when new race tracks are added to the schedule, no one has raced there. New Hampshire is kind of the same way. When it first came on, there was a group of us that had raced at New Hampshire three or four times before the Cup cars were ever there. In some ways, it’s an equalizer, and in other ways, it could separate some things a little bit because people have a lot of experience. There’s a thought that, that could really benefit those people.”

JAMIE MCMURRAY ON KENTUCKY: “I am looking forward to going to Kentucky this week. I have raced there a couple of times and have had good finishes each time. Of course, just because I have some experience at the track doesn’t mean things haven’t changed. We will find out what we have to look forward to for the weekend with the open test day on Thursday. I think it is good for our sport to have the Sprint Cup Series go to new places. It is always cool for new fans to be able to come out and see the sport up close and personal.”

McMURRAY CHASSIS CHOICE: Chassis #1004 will be making its 2011 debut this weekend at Kentucky Speedway. The chassis ran at Texas, Michigan and Pocono in 2010 and has served as the backup in eight races this season.

Brad Keselowski rolling with winning Kansas car this week (Getty)

BRAD KESELOWSKI ON GETTING AROUND KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY: “If you can get your car where it’s comfortable over the bumps in Turns 1 and 2, that’s obviously going to be the fast way around Kentucky. Sometimes that is easier said than done so some drivers will choose to enter a bit higher to avoid the bumps. Usually that will establish a second groove around the middle of the race, which can lead to some great side-by-side racing over the final laps. It’s definitely a place with a lot of character, despite the fact that it looks like a lot of the other intermediate tracks that we visit.”

KESELOWSKI CHASSIS CHOICE: The No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger team will race chassis PRS-747 during Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway. Keselowski drove this chassis to a victory at Kansas Speedway last month.

REGAN SMITH ON KENTUCKY: “Though I haven’t been to Kentucky Speedway in four years, the venue has crossed my mind a number of times since I last competed there in the 2007 Nationwide race for Ginn Racing. We were the dominant car that evening, but didn’t give ourselves a chance to win due to a fuel miscalculation. I qualified on the pole and led a number of opening laps (45) and felt we were going to win the race. But when I was leading and called into the pits for an early stop, I was already out of fuel and that put us a lap down and out of contention. I guess you can say I have some unsettled business to take care of at Kentucky Speedway this weekend. It’s a great track and the crowd support has always been fantastic. I was happy to hear when Kentucky was awarded a Sprint Cup date. Our Furniture Row Chevrolet likes the mile-and-a-half tracks and we’re aiming to come away with a good result in Saturday night’s race.”

Won three straight Kentucky Nationwide races

JOEY LOGANO ON KENTUCKY: “I don’t think my Nationwide success at Kentucky is an automatic given that it will be easier for me in the Cup car. The Nationwide car is different this year and it’s a lot different than the Cup cars. I think with the open test day there will be guys that figure out the track easier than others. A lot of the guys have competed in the Nationwide races here and before the testing ban the Cup guys used to test a lot here too. The good guys will figure it out on Thursday. I think a lot of teams will be trying other stuff too to help their entire 1.5-mile program. You don’t get opportunities to test like this very often so you have to take advantage of it while you can.

“This track to me is a combination of Chicago and Kansas. The banking is a lot like Kansas and the front straightaway and the way you go into the corner reminds me of Chicago. It’s just a little bumpier in the bottom lane. It will be interesting to see where the Cup cars end up running – if most will run the bottom or if they will move up to the middle and high grooves.”

“The last two weeks have been huge for The Home Depot Team. We are on a little run right now and hopefully we can get a good run in again this weekend. When you get good finishes like we have the last two weeks, everyone’s confidence goes up and you get that all important momentum on your side. We are starting to dig out of the hole we got into at the start of the season and are in the top 20 now.”

LOGANO NATIONWIDE SUCCESS AT KENTUCKY: Joey Logano and The Home Depot Team head to Kentucky Speedway for the inaugural NASCAR Sprint Cup race at the 1.5-mile track. However, Logano has competed in the last three NASCAR Nationwide Series events at Kentucky and has won from the pole in all three races. The 2008 Nationwide victory at Kentucky Speedway was Logano’s first NASCAR win and it happened in just his third start. In addition to his Nationwide Series experience, Logano and the No. 20 Team participated in the Goodyear Tire test last month at the Sparta track.

LOGANO CHASSIS CHOICE: The No. 20 Home Depot Team is taking chassis #309 this weekend to compete in the Quaker State 400. Logano drove this chassis just once this season to an 11th-place finish at Pocono Raceway in June. The back-up chassis is #303 that Logano will use in the test session at Kentucky on Thursday and most recently ran at Michigan International Speedway a few weeks ago.

GREG BIFFLE ON KENTUCKY: “A racetrack has to have character and Kentucky has character. The progressive banking off of Turn 4 makes it a lot of fun to race here. It’s going to be an exciting race, it’s going to be really fun. I’ve had some memorable races at Kentucky starting with the win there in the truck series in 2000. Then I remember in 2002 beating and banging off of Todd Bodine at the end of the Nationwide race. He got me by a fender but we had a lot of fun. It would definitely mean a lot to finish well at Kentucky this weekend in the first Sprint Cup race there and we need a good run.”

BIFFLE'S CREW CHIEF GREG ERWIN ON KENTUCKY: “We were part of the open tire test at Kentucky last month and I think that went pretty well for us. We’ll have the full day of testing on Thursday which should put everyone on even ground going into the weekend. Greg has run well at Kentucky in the truck and Nationwide Series but it’s been a few years since he last raced there and we feel the track has probably changed a bit. It’s one of the rougher track we race on so we’ll have to work on that part of the handling kind of like we do at Vegas.”

KURT BUSCH ON KENTUCKY: “The thing about Kentucky is that negotiating all the bumps is a major factor in getting around that place. What’s so great – and I personally applaud NASCAR for doing it – is that they gave us a ton of track time there on Thursday and that is cool. It definitely won’t offer everything to get us full-time ‘Cuppers’ up to speed with the guys I have mentioned, but it will certainly help out.”

Kenseth bringing a 2011 winning chassis this week

MATT KENSETH ON KENTUCKY: “I really don’t have any experience with the track at Kentucky. We used to test there quite a bit before the testing rules came into place but I’ve probably only been there three or four times in my career. I’ve never raced there and I’ve never been in competition at Kentucky so I don’t know a lot about the track. But I’m looking forward to getting there, getting on the track. It’s always really fun to go to a new racetrack and to run the first Cup race they ever have there because there’s so much excitement from the fans and the people from the surrounding areas and cities and all that, for us to come there and race. It’s always fun to be a part of those first events so I’m looking forward to a great weekend for our Crown Royal team.”

KENSETH CREW CHIEF JIMMY FENNIG ON KENTUCKY CHASSIS CHOICE: “We’re actually taking two cars with us this weekend to Kentucky. Since we have a test day on Thursday, we’re going to test chassis 733, and then on Thursday if we feel like the tires are wearing well and if the car’s handling well on the track, then we’ll most likely use 741 as our primary this weekend. The track surface is really rough at Kentucky so we want to see how the test goes and if we feel the data looks good, we’ll opt to run 741 since that’s been a race-winning car for us. We’re basing a lot of our planning for this weekend off of the No. 16 team’s trip to Kentucky for a tire test earlier this season.”