Kurt Busch Starting 11th In Sunday's Samsung 500 At Texas
April 16, 2010
FORT WORTH, Texas (April 16, 2010) – Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch will start Sunday’s Samsung 500 here at Texas Motor Speedway from the 11th spot after turning in a lap of 28.436 seconds (189.900 mph) in this afternoon’s time trial session.
“It was an eventful lap for sure,” Busch said after going out 18th of 46 drivers here this afternoon. “It was hard to judge how far to step the car out with the new spoiler versus the wing. We were on the loose side and didn't want the tight side that's for sure. We made
the right adjustments, I just felt like I couldn't keep my foot planted on the floor because the car wanted to step out. We just didn't get everything we wanted out of that lap in our Miller Lite Dodge."
“That was a really nice pickup, though, so we have to be pretty well satisfied with the overall effort,” Busch said later of his practice lap of 28.630 seconds (188.613 mph), which was 17th on the speed chart. “We turned our lap with no cloud cover, so we’re okay with the run. We just have to really maximize our track time here tomorrow and get our Miller Lite Dodge dialed in for the race. We’ll be doing everything that we possibly can to try to make it two-in-a-row here on Sunday.”
Tony Stewart picked up the Coors Light Pole Position here this afternoon with his lap of 28.224 seconds (191.327 mph). Stewart had been second-fastest in practice and went out 24th in the qualifying order.
Penske Racing teammate Sam Hornish Jr. turned all the heads here this afternoon, claiming the outside pole for his career-best qualifying performance. After showing up 23rd on the practice speed chart, Hornish was 25th in the qualifying order and he muscled his Mobil 1 Dodge to a lap of 28.238 seconds (191.232 mph).
Greg Biffle, who was fastest in practice, clocked in with a lap of 28.287 seconds (190.900 mph) to claim the third starting spot, with Jimmie Johnson (28.290 seconds/190.880 mph) fourth and Kasey Kahne (28.315/190.712) fifth. Jeff Burton, Kyle Busch, Clint Bowyer, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Ryan Newman round out Sunday’s top-10 starters.
Starting behind the Miller Lite Dodge and rounding out the top-20 starters are Jeff Gordon, David Ragan, Martin Truex, Jr., Jamie McMurray, David Reutimann, A.J. Allmendinger, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards. Penske Racing teammate Brad Keselowski (28.750 seconds/187.826 mph) will start 37th here on Sunday.
Saturday’s first practice here at TMS is scheduled from 11:00 a.m. till 11:45 a.m. Saturday’s final “happy hour” practice session is scheduled from 12:50 p.m. till 1:50 p.m. Sunday’s Samsung 500 (334 laps. 501 miles) has a scheduled 2:00 p.m. local (CDT) starting time. FOX-TV and PRN Radio will provide live coverage of all the action.
