Catchfence

KURT BUSCH (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger) A HOMECOMING OF SORTS COMING BACK AND RACING AT CHICAGOLAND: “Yeah, it’s always fun to come back to the Midwest where my parents and most of my family are still rooted. Kyle and I were really the only ones born and raised out in Las Vegas, so the Chicago area, the Northwest suburbs like Schaumburg, Rolling Meadows, Arlington Heights, that’s the area that I remember coming to for a visit seeing grandpa, aunts and uncles. So this area in general I’ve grown fond of it over the years, especially with the Chicago Cubs. I’m just trying to put a good run together for Miller Lite. Their home base is just up the road in Milwaukee, yet they’re moving all their corporate offices here to Chicago because of the merger between Miller and Coors. Lots of incentives to run well. Just the fact that we are running good on mile-and-a-halves this year, I feel like we have a great shot at trying to drive our Dodge in Victory Lane.”

WHAT ARE THE KEYS TO THIS WEEKEND’S RACE? “The keys here at Chicago are to get your car to run well on the long run. But with double-file restarts, that’s going to be exciting this time around because you have to be good on the short-runs to gain those positions and hold off the tough competition. It gets back to the balance. Is your car good on a short run, or a long run? Double-file restarts will be key. And I think that we’ve had a couple of them come down to fuel mileage because the tires seem to be doing an excellent job here with maintaining their pace as well as how they re-fire after the tires cool off once we have a yellow flag session. I see the double-file restarts as being key. I feel the tire wear and how you manage your tires and when you pit the final time will be key as well. The most interesting thing is that we only run here once a year and so it’s hard to find your rhythm, hard to find your groove and get that raw speed that you need until about half-way through the race when you finally settle in.”

WITH THE WAY THAT THE LAST TWO RESTRICTOR-PLATE RACES HAVE FINISHED WITH BIG CRASHES, DO YOU AS A DRIVER HAVE TO RE-THINK HOW YOU DRIVE THE LAST FEW LAPS?

“It just seems to become more and more about luck at restrictor-plate races. You have to have a car to put yourself in position to be running for second and in the top-five. It’s definitely frustrating at times knowing that I had a good enough cars to win, but I wasn’t in the right pack at the end or in the right position. And then you see guys leading coming out of Turn 4 that end up wrecked and finishing 14th. You never know where the safe spot is at restrictor-plate racing. So, it’s difficult. The tires weren’t lasting all that long last week, but we had yellows that were sprinkled in throughout the night. There wasn’t a long run longer than 25 laps. So you’re sitting there thinking that you didn’t really need to worry about tire wear if we’re going to pit every 25 laps. What that does is just bunch you up and then everybody is on top of each other for the end. So, it’s definitely a crap shoot. If I had driven into Victory Lane, I might have a different opinion of it, but it’s definitely a tough race to win whether it’s Daytona or Talladega.”

WILL THE NIGHT RACE HERE AFFECT THE CARS MUCH SATURDAY NIGHT? “It was a large factor last year on how we were waiting to see how the cars were going to handle at night and to see how much the track grip would change during the night session. When these tracks cool down, the engines get more horsepower and the tires get more grip. It changes the way the car hits the race track with the extra speed. Knowing what we know about last year, it’s vital. The changes we’ve made throughout this year on our car, specifically the Miller Lite Dodge, we’ve learned so much from week to week that it’s hard to even look at the notes from last year.

“It just reminds you a little bit of Charlotte where we practice in the afternoon and then race at night. That’s the experience that you have to take into it. You use some of those similar adjustments to compensate for the cooler conditions.”

JEFF GORDON CAME INTO THE MEDIA CENTER AND SAID HE WANTED TO CLEAR HIS NAME ON HOW HE SANG THE NATIONAL ANTHEM AT WRIGLEY FIELD. IS THAT POSSIBLE? “I don’t think that he’s getting the invite any time soon (laughs). I got to sing (the national anthem) back in 2004 and my claim to fame is that I didn’t make any highlight reels because I did it well enough not to be booed out of there by the loyal Wrigley fans. I actually have the opportunity this Sunday; I’m throwing out the first pitch and singing during the seventh inning stretch at the first game on Sunday. They wanted me to do the second game, but I said that I’ll have too many Miller Lites down by the start of second game (smiles). It’s just a chance of a lifetime ever since the great Harry Caray passed away. They’ve brought in celebrities, actors, singers, the guy that empties the trash (at Wrigley), they’ve had everybody sing. It’s funny how some people can splotch it up, call it by the wrong name or not know the lyrics. It’s a tradition at Wrigley and it’s very special that you get an opportunity to do it.”

DO YOU PREP FOR IT? “About three Miller Lites and I should be ready to go (laughs).”

HOW IMPORTANT IS IT FOR NASCAR THAT THE BRICKYARD 400 IS A GOOD RACE THIS YEAR? “Indianapolis has got to be the number two race for us on our schedule. If you don’t win Daytona, the list is short after that whether it’s Indy or whether it’s Charlotte. The way the race went down last year, everybody was very disappointed. The diamond cutting of the surface is getting older. I give the analogy that first year with the diamond cut is like sharp razor blades. Now with four or five years on the same surface, it feels like you’re running on rusty razor blades and they cut your tires up and it isn’t as healthy. So, Goodyear has done a good job. I was involved in the last tire test. To see the steps that they’ve taken, to see the tire that we’re going to go back and run on, it seems to lay down rubber and there’s rubber build up on the race track. It’s as best an effort as they could put forth. In my mind, it goes back to the surface. Charlotte went through the diamond cutting and they fixed that by re-paving the race track. We don’t have that option. I think Indianapolis Motor Speedway is more concerned about IRL cars than they are stock cars, so we just have to muscle through this and I hope that Goodyear has done the right things to give us a great race and to put on a good show because Indianapolis is a prestigious event when we go and run the 400-miler there.”

WAS THE LAST LAP AT DAYTONA JUST RACING OR ARE GUYS STARTING TO DRIVER A LITTLE TOO FEARLESS? “I think that were all racing right up against the line. We’re getting aggressive. We’re pushing each other at Talladega where two cars can team up and really draft. At Daytona, we saw a guy try to put a block on another guy and you’re not going to lift out of the gas on the last lap. So it does come down to a judgment call and a lot of times when NASCAR has to make a judgment call on you, you’re not going to like the result. So I think that everything that went down at Daytona was kosher. My little brother tried to block Tony for a second time. He was too late. Tony felt a bit sorry for what he did, but he’s going to do the same thing that everyone else was going to do at the end of those races to win. Once somebody really steps over the line, that’s when NASCAR needs to step in and black flag someone for aggressive-rough driving. They put out the rough driving zones all the way around the race track, so it’s up to them to decide if your step over that line.”

SITTING FOURTH IN THE DRIVER STANDINGS, DO YOU DRIVE MORE AGGRESSIVELY TRYING TO GET MORE BONUS POINTS FOR A WIN HERE ON OUT? “We have eight races to go and right now bonus points go with you into the Chase. Do we feel confident or comfortable being fourth in points, 300 points out of 12th (and final Chase position)? Yeah, you can say that. But if you have a catastrophic engine failure, you get caught in a wreck or a (potential) tire issue at Indianapolis, you’re right back in the mix between eight and 12th. I’d like to see a few more races go by. We have a great shot here at Chicago, don’t get me wrong. We have Indianapolis and we’d like to survive that. We have Watkins Glen and Pocono, then we go back to Michigan and I’m really looking forward in attacking the last few (races) right before the Chase starts and that’s Bristol, Atlanta and Richmond. Those three (tracks) I feel that we can run really strong on and if we can pick up a win or two at those tracks, that would be 30 bonus points that would come along with us in the Chase.”

- Darnell Communications for Dodge Motorsports, Press Release