Kurt Busch Starting 13th In Saturday's Battle At Richmond
September 11, 2009
RICHMOND, Va. (Sept. 11, 2009) – Kurt Busch will start his Miller Lite Dodge 13th in Saturday night’s Chevy Rock & Roll 400 here at Richmond International Raceway, after turning in an official qualifying lap of 21.500 seconds (125.581 mph) in this afternoon’s time trial session.
“It was a pretty good lap for us in our Miller Lite Dodge,” said Busch, whose fastest practice lap (21.966 seconds) was only 23rd-fastest on the speed chart. “We just need to get the car to turn better in the center of the corner and try to pick up some speed. We made a nice gain from practice earlier, so I'm pretty positive for tomorrow night."
Busch was out 10th in the order of the 44 drivers attempting to make tomorrow night’s starting field and most of the top-10 qualifiers here today made their attempts much later in the session, taking advantage of cooler track and atmospheric temperatures.
Mark Martin claimed the Coors Light Pole Award for tomorrow night’s battle with a fast lap of 21.292 seconds (126.808 mph). Martin Truex Jr. (21.305 seconds/123.677 mph) earned the outside-front-row starting spot. Local favorite Denny Hamlin (21.322/126.630) starts third, with Jimmie Johnson (21.337/126.541) fourth and Kasey Kahne (21.352/123.836) fifth. Brian Vickers, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski and Carl Edwards rounded out today’s top-10 qualifiers.
Reed Sorenson, Penske Racing teammate David Stremme (12th with a lap of 21.469/123.694), Kurt Busch, Juan Pablo Montoya and Dale Earnhardt Jr. completed today’s top-15 qualifiers. Penske Racing’s Sam Hornish Jr. will start Saturday night’s race from the 33rd spot after turning in a qualifying lap of 21.736 seconds (124.218 mph).
“We were hoping to get us a top-15 starting spot and we accomplished that goal here today,” said Busch after the session concluded. “As far as the quest to make the Chase goes, I told the media earlier today that it’s just a matter of staying out of tire troubles or engine trouble. We need to have some solid stops on pit road as well as finding a comfortable and fast line around the race track to protect our Miller Lite Dodge. We’re confident that we can do the job.”
For the superstitious-minded, starting 13th has actually worked extremely well for Busch this season. He has done so twice this year, with his 13th-place start in the season-opening Daytona 500 leading to a 10th-place finish and his 13th starting spot at Bristol a couple of races back producing a seventh-place finish.
Saturday night’s Chevy Rock & Roll 400 (400 laps, 300 miles) Sprint Cup race has a 7:30 p.m. EDT starting time, with ESPN and MRN Radio presenting live coverage.
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TRANSCRIPT FROM FRIDAY’S KURT BUSCH’S TOP-12 PRESS CONFERENCE
KURT BUSCH (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger) WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS HEADING INTO THE RACE TOMORROW NIGHT? “We hoped to have a little less pressure here at Richmond by locking us in last week. It didn’t happen. We had a rough race where we missed the setup. It was hard even to think about changing the setup we had at the Atlanta spring race because of how dominant the car was. A tough lesson learned, but here this weekend, the car seems to be running well. If we just accept it as business as usual, we should find ourselves locked into the Chase at the night’s conclusion. It’s just a matter of staying out of tire troubles or engine trouble. Of course, just having some solid stops on pit road as well as finding a clear zone on the race track to protect our Miller Lite Dodge and that should do the job. We feel like once the Chase does start, the outlook looks positive with a couple of strong races for us right out of the box at Loudon and Dover. With Richmond, we have had some success here. We’ve won one race, some top 10s, some laps led, so hopefully that will be one of those nights that we’ll have on Saturday.”
HAS THE CHASE FORMAT CHANGED SO MUCH THAT WHAT YOU USE TO DO DOESN’T WORK TODAY? “It seems each year there are some small lessons learned, but it still gets back to the format that we used in 2004 that I still think is important and that’s consistency. You just can’t have those bad finishes right off the bat because when you do, you have that mindset of trying to dig out of a hole and try to stretch yourself thin and make calls that your wouldn’t normally make. So when you’re running ahead of the game and things have been going smooth and you’re running consistent week-to-week, that’s going to bode well when you have a 10-race stretch.”
KYLE IS ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING INTO THE CHASE, YET IF HE GETS IN, HE GOES FROM BEING OUTSIDE TO LEADING THE CHASE STANDINGS. YOUR THOUGHTS? “That’s something that (NASCAR) changed a few years in the Chase which was to reward drivers for victories. That’s what we’re always out there gunning for and shooting for our sponsors and our team. The way that you get bonus points for the Chase for wins, it makes sense for that to happen. Sometimes a driver that’s winning a lot and isn’t consistent, that’s really the first time that we’re forced with this decision. If he does make the Chase, it’s like a weird cliché of a mediocre football game that’s 8-8, he’s been mediocre here and mediocre there, yet then he’s a 12-4 football team because he’s got the most wins. So, all that we want as racers, as competitors, is the best 12 guys in the Chase. He (Kyle Busch) has to have a good solid night here this weekend to be one of those best guys.”
LOOKING AHEAD TO NEW HAMPSHIRE, IS THAT THE KIND OF TRACK THAT DRIVERS CONSIDER A “DRIVERS TRACK”, A GOOD PLACE TO START THE CHASE AT? “I think Loudon is a generous race track. It’s easy to find trouble, yet you can stay out of trouble a little easier. The speeds are lower at a race track like that one versus some of the mile-and-a-halves. It gets into the driver aspect – how to get the car to rotate through the center of the corner and to feel comfortable over a long run. I think that it’s a great place to start the Chase off, but I’m sure there are other great places too.”
THERE ARE REPORTS THAT YOUR CREW CHIEF PAT TRYSON IS LEAVING AT THE END OF THE YEAR. IS THERE ANY TRUTH TO THAT RUMOR? “Yeah, it’s a change that’s going to happen. It’s unfortunate that Pat (Tryson) made that type of decision. It seems like our focus should be on the Chase and making it in the Chase, so it’s a tough week for that type of news. That’s really where my focus is. No matter who I’m working with or communicating with, we have to get the Miller Lite Dodge in the Chase and get off to a great start once we do that.”
WITH THE ANNOUNCEMENT THAT RICHARD PETTY MOTORSPORTS (RPM) IS LEAVING DODGE FOR FORD NEXT YEAR, ARE YOU COMFORTABLE WITH PENSKE RACING ARE THE ONLY DODGE TEAMS RIGHT NOW FOR NEXT YEAR? “That’s a tough one because we liked to have more bullets in the gun when we’re standing out there on Sunday’s trying to get Dodge into victory lane. But with us now down to three teams, it’s a unique responsibility to go out here and represent the Dodge brand and help them sell cars. Whether it’s passenger cars, minivans, sport utility vehicles or the fun ones like the Charger and the Challenger, that’s a great deal of responsibility. I’m willing to help and do our job. The manufacturer support is very important across the board and we hope that Dodge still continues to stick with Penske Racing and give us what we need financially as well as the engineering support.”
HOW DO YOU NOW COMPETE WITH ROUSH WHEN THEY HAVE THE FOUR TEAMS PLUS TEAMS THAT WILL BE JOINED BY THE GILLETT-YATES MERGER OR HENDRICKS, ETC.? “I liked the way that you phrased that in saying that, ‘Hendrick is with this guy and Yates is with this guy.’ You didn’t mention manufacturer. That’s where I still believe that it gets down to the teams. I still think what we need at Penske Racing is an affiliate to work with and it doesn’t matter if we’re Dodge or competing against Chevy or Ford. I think what it comes down to is the teams themselves. That’s what the next step is that we need to take a look at. Sometimes the feeling that I’ve had this year is that I’m on an island all by myself. We just have to continue to find ways to make this COT fast with no testing. That’s why I think the theme of merging with guys is because you get a fresh set of notebooks without even having to hit the race track and test.”
ARE YOU MAD AT PAT FOR THE TIMING OF HIS DECISION? “The timing isn’t all that good, but it never is any good when you want to change directions in life. I did that in 2005 at Roush Racing. There’s never a really a good time to bring things up, but I can’t be disappointed in Pat or upset at Pat. The way that we’ve had a great run together and the way that he turned our program around in 2007, it helped put him back on the map too so to speak. You never want to hold anybody back from their ambitions and their dreams. We have a guy in Brad Keselowski that’s coming to our program and Dale Jr. had a tough decision to make on what to do with him. And when your phrase it the way that Pat did and I’m sure the way that Keselowski did, that there are opportunities ahead and that you want to go and conquer other things, you can’t tie them down. You have to let them go and make those decisions. Pat and I had a great run together. We still have more work to do though. We want to get locked in (the Chase) tomorrow night. That’s the focus. If we go out and do business as usual, we should. He’ll be with us throughout the Chase. It’s going to be a changing target throughout the Chase, but right now Pat and I are a great combination and have a task at hand.”
ARE YOU CONCERNED AT ALL ABOUT ANY ‘STRANGE’ RACING THAT MAY GO ON TOMORROW NIGHT? “We’re not always as smart as we think we are sometimes out on the race track. We’re not necessarily capable of predicting a yellow (flag) that we want or a situation that we want to arise. We all have enough work as it is to stay focused on our own car. I feel like we have a great position…to be nearly 100 points up on the guys 13th and 14th in points. The pressure is on them to decide how they’re going to gain those points on us.”
DID PAT GIVE YOU ANY IDEA WHY HE WANTS A DIFFERNET OPPORTUNITY? “That’s something that I think Pat can answer or Mike Nelson from Penske Racing who can give better insight. My job is to focus on the Chase and not get into those details.”
WE HAVE 10 GUYS GOING FOR EIGHT POSITONS SEPARATED BY 122 POINTS, WHAT DO YOU THINK IT’S GOING TO COME DOWN TO TOMORROW NIGHT? “It’s going to come down to a competitive car and having that luck to be on the right pit sequence. Sometimes you’re out there for 30 laps and you decide to stay out and a big group of cars come in. Can they gain that track position on those guys? We fell into a hole here in the spring race running second to Denny Hamlin most of the night. I had an opportunity to go to that fork in the road; do we pit now or stay out. We stayed and old tires didn’t pan out for us. Guys like Jeff Gordon came up through the field and a few others and we ended up finishing 12th. Hamlin was in that same boat with us I think. That’s what it’s going to come down to…pitting at the right time once you get past halfway to find the right sequence and that will help give you a great shot at it.”
DO YOU PAY MORE ATTENTION PITTING WITH THE GUYS WHO ARE RIGHT AROUND YOU IN POINTS? “That’s always a great thing to do because everybody stays together in the same boat. I remember at Homestead in 2004 when we were running for our championship, I only had eight points as a cushion. We had a tire fall off and we had all kinds of things go crazy that day. I took a deep breath that day and once I found out that we were on the same cycle as the 48 and the 24, so that does come into play. We’re all going to run out of gas together, or we’re all going to march up the pack and finish in the top five. It ended up where we all made it and we all finished in the top five. It’s pretty wild when it gets down to the end.”
