Catchfence

KURT BUSCH (No. 2 Miller Lite Vortex Dodge Charger) WHAT’S YOUR OUTLOOK FOR THIS WEEKEND? “It’s always exciting to come back to Bristol.  This is one of the marquee events on the schedule.  Our team is pumped up about it.  To get to victory lane is on the top of our list.  With where we finished last week, yeah, it was a bummer to have an engine failure leading up to the Chase.  Our point situation is comfortable.  We feel like coming here is business as usual.  We had a nice good run here in March.  We basically have the same car as we did in March; we just tweaked it a little bit.   It’s just not turning as well and the rear end isn’t sticking as good because of the rubber on the race track and the heat that we experience here in August versus March.  Just a few more minor tweaks and I think that we’ll be in the ballpark.”

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Audio: 2010 NSCS IRWIN Tools Night Race at Bristol Pre-Race Conference with Kurt Busch

HAS THE WAY THE RACE ENDED HERE LAST MARCH CHANGED YOUR APPROACH TO TOMORROW’S RACE? “If you’re smart enough, you should just count cars as you come off of pit road and if you’re going to end up in an odd numbered position, pull over, check up on the brakes and let somebody pass you, that way you start on the outside lane.  It’s that important to start on the outside lane especially when guys in front of you have two tires because they just bottle up the inside lane and there’s nowhere to go.”

ARE YOU CALMED DOWN ON THE INCIDENT WITH THE 48? “It’s not an issue.  The way that the whole line of events ended up, we were at a road course after a race where a Hendrick car ran into us.  We got plowed by the 24 at Sonoma and we got caught up in a bump-drafting miscue at Pocono.  Most of it was intentional; just the coincidence of it being Watkins Glen…a road course…that was my frame of mind.  The last few road course races, I struggled to finish because we’ve been taken out.”

HAVE HAD A TOUGH TIME ADJUSTING TO THE TIRES THIS WEEKEND?  IS DODGE AT A DISADVANTAGE BY NOT BEING ABLE TO HAVE A DRIVER AT EVERY TIRE TEST? “I was joking with the crew chief this week because I didn’t know that they changed tires until Tuesday.  Any place where we do good, they either change the tire or take it off the schedule (laughs).  We’re always fighting an uphill battle.  You have to find ways to make your team stronger no matter what tracks end up on the circuit.  You’ve got to bring your “A” game and sort it out.  Unfortunately we lose the Atlanta race in the spring (2011), but we’ve got to go to Kentucky with our minds open and hopefully we find the right setup to get our cars dialed in there.  Just like this weekend, they change their tires around and you have to do the best with it that you can.  They’re not going to change it overnight to help us out.  But we’re at a disadvantage by not having a Dodge at a tire test, but that’s the bed that we made and we’ll have to lay in it.”

ARE YOU GOING TO RACE THE 48 ANY DIFFERENT THAN THE OTHER 41 DRIVERS TOMORROW?
“There’s a lot of things that go into it.  When a second-place car catches a leader, it’s because the second-place car is faster.  With the way that the groove is here, the outside groove is the preferred groove.  You’ll have to see where he’s running.  He might be slow in Turn 2 and that might be our best corner.  You always have to adjust because every circumstance is different.  You really just can’t go out there and have a mindset of, ‘I’ve got to do this’.  You have to go out there with the mindset of adjusting to Bristol and racing this race track because things happen in a thousandth of a second.”

DO YOU KNOW WHY GOODYEAR BROUGHT THIS PARTICULAR TIRE TO BRISTOL? “Because a lot of teams were on the edge here in March; there were a lot of tire blowouts on long green-flag runs.  If you were to bring the same tire that was marginal in March, you’re definitely going to be on edge when it’s warmer in August.”

- Darnell Communications for Dodge Motorsports, Press Release