Kurt Busch Homestead-Miami Race Preview
KURT BUSCH HOPING TO MAKE GREAT LAST IMPRESSIONS AT HOMESTEAD
Miller Lite Dodge Driver In Tight Battle For Most Poles
Labels 2006 Successful For First-Year Team
HOMESTEAD, Fla. (Nov. 14, 2006) Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch is hoping to close out the 2006 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup season this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway by making some great last impressions.
The greatest drama Busch and his Roy McCauley-led Penske Team will face this weekend will come during Friday's qualifying session for Sunday's Ford 500 season finale. Busch enters the weekend leading in the battle for the most poles, with six top qualifying spots to his credit. Kasey Kahne is currently second with five poles.
If the career track record has anything to do with it, Busch may be considered a favorite to take Friday's pole. After all, entering the 2006 season, he had claimed only three poles in 184 races and two of those had come at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Kahne is certain to be a challenger as he has started fourth and third in his only two visits to the South Florida track. He has been a phenomenon in both qualifying and racing on the intermediate tracks this season.
"Man, I'd like to think that we'll have a shot at the pole there on Friday," said Busch, who has claimed poles on short tracks, intermediate tracks and road courses this season. "But, judging from the testing we did down there several weeks back (on Oct. 15-16), it would be a big surprise to me if we can pull it off.
"I really didn't feel that our car was strong enough in qualifying trim during the test," Busch continued. "We're going to have to be much stronger when we get back down there this weekend to be able to get the job done."
Those comments certainly didn't take away any of the confidence that crew chief McCauley has in his driver getting the job done.
"That's just Kurt," McCauley said with a chuckle. "You know, it's one of those the glass is half empty or half full type deals. He'll be strong down there, I'm sure of that. He is so good at that track that he'll probably get down there and surprise himself. He never thought he'd win both poles at California this year. He never thought he could win a road course pole and he went out there and won them both. His Bristol pole came as a surprise and winning the pole at Martinsville just about blew his mind. He'll be great down there, I'm confidant of that."
The battle for the season's most poles and the $100,000 prize that goes with it comes down to this scenario at Homestead on Friday.
Of course, if Busch could claim another pole, he would win the award outright. If neither Busch nor Kahne take the top qualifying spot, Busch is the winner.
If Kahne takes the pole and matches Busch's six top qualifying spots, then the picture gets a little complicated. The tie-breaker for this award resorts to second-place starts. Kahne currently has two (Watkins Glen & October Lowe's) to Busch's one (June Pocono).
Should Kahne take the pole and Busch qualify second, the number of third-place starts would be the deciding factor. However, both Busch and Kahne officially have three third-place starts each. So, statisticians will fall back on the number of fourth-place starts to decide the award winner. Entering Homestead, Kahne has two fourth-place starts to Busch's one.
"If that's what it comes down to, it will certainly be a shame," said Busch. "We can only look back at what happened in the last race at Charlotte (October at Lowe's Motor Speedway) and start kicking ourselves. We qualified third there before getting sent to the back for the shock absorber infraction.
"So if the deal did unfold all the way down to that, the thi rd- place effort that got wiped out at Charlotte would be the difference," said Busch. "With it, we would have won the tie-breaker, but without it, Kasey will win the award. You could do some really abstract thinking and say that was a very costly shock that we had on the car that day.
"But regardless off the outcome, we're not going to beat ourselves up about it," Busch said with a grin. "We're smart enough to look at the big picture and know we can all keep our heads held high.
"The fact that we won the six poles this season makes a big statement," said Busch. "It shows just how strong these Penske Racing Dodges are. With Ryan (Newman, Penske teammate) winning the award for the most poles for the last four years, I'm so proud to have had a hand in attempting to keep that tradition going for Roger's (Penske) teams.
"And we can also be very proud of what we were able to accomplish overall this season," said Busch. "This team wasn't even put together until last December and it's truly a first-year team. It's a totally different No. 2 roster than it was in 2005. There's a different driver, a different crew chief, a different car chief, a different shock specialist heck, even the truck drivers are different than they were last season. Derike (Stamets), our team engineer, is the only carry-over guy from Rusty's team one year ago.
"So with that in mind, a season with a win, six poles, seven top-fives and 12 top-10s is pretty darned successful for a first-year team, I think," said Busch. "But the way we're looking at it is that Homestead offers us the opportunity to add to those great numbers. We're looking to make some great last impressions down there this weekend."
The 1.5-mile Homestead track is certainly a place where Busch should be able to carry out his plans. In his five career Cup starts there, he has posted one win, two top-five finishes and two poles. He scored his first "double-dip" race weekend by taking both the pole position and the race win in the 2002 season finale at Homestead. In one of the most dramatic races in NASCAR history, Busch started from the pole (his third pole in 150 races) and finished fifth at Homestead on Nov. 21, 2004, enough to clinch the title by a mere eight points over Jimmie Johnson. He survived a near catastrophic situation when he lost the right front wheel while running second on Lap 94. He just missed hitting the barrier at the pit road opening and the team was able to bounce back and finish fifth. That was his most recent race on the track as he was forced to sit out the 2005 event.
This weekend's schedule at Homestead calls for practice on Friday from 11:35 a.m. till 1:05 p.m. The single round of qualifying on Friday at 3:10 p.m. will allocate all 43 starting positions for Sunday's race. Saturday's schedule features Cup practice sessions from 1:00 p.m. till 2:00 p.m. and from 2:35 p.m. till 3:20 p.m. Sunday's season-ending Ford 500 at Homestead-Miami Speedway has a 2:55 p.m. starting time. NBC and MRN Radio will broadcast the race live beginning at 2:00 p.m. EST.
KURT BUSCH CAREER TRACK RECORDS
HOMESTEAD-MIAMI SPEEDWAY(1.5 miles)
Date Event Start Finish Laps $Won Status
11/21/04 Ford 400 1 5 271/271 $130,650 Running
11/16/03 Ford 400 7 36 55/267 63,760 Accident
11/17/02 Ford 400 1 1 267/267 297,100 Running
11/11/01 Ford 400 32 23 267/267 49,550 Running
11/12/00 Ford 400 10 19 264/267 50,300 Running
Races Wins Top-5 Top-10 Poles $$$$$
Total 5 1 2 2 2 $591,360
KURT BUSCH/MILLER LITE DODGE
2006 RACE RECORD/CAREER STATISTICAL BRIEF
Date Race St Fin Laps Led $$$ Won Status
2/16 Gatorade 150 6 6 64/64 0/0 $ 22,383 Running
2/19 Daytona 500 13 38 187/203 1/1 280,366 Accident
2/26 California 1 16 251/251 3/7 144,558 Running
3/12 Las Vegas 6 16 270/270 0/0 126,583 Running
3/20 Atlanta 9 37 321/325 2/22 99,153 Running
3/26 Bristol 9 1 500/500 3/33 175,858 Running
4/2 Martinsville 9 11 500/500 0/0 111,683 Running
4/9 Texas 7 34 286/334 0/0 124,633 Running
4/22 Phoenix 7 24 310/312 0/0 103,833 Running
5/1 Talladega 5 7 188/188 2/9 143,233 Running
5/6 Richmond 13 29 397/400 0/0 105,008 Running
5/13 Darlington 10 19 366/367 0/0 115,633 Running
5/20 All-Star 3 20 33/90 0/0 92,083 Engine
5/28 Charlotte 20 39 290/400 0/0 122,858 Running
6/4 Dover 4 16 400/400 0/0 122,658 Running
6/11 Pocono 2 2 200/200 7/31 193,258 Running
6/18 Michigan 13 9 129/129 0/0 117,583 Running
6/25 Sonoma 1 5 110/110 1/29 145,433 Running
7/1 Daytona 16 3 160/160 0/0 196,233 Running
7/9 Chicago 19 8 270/270 0/0 138,958 Running
7/16 Loudon 10 38 285/308 0/0 108,533 Running
7/23 Pocono II 7 2 200/200 1/3 182,758 Running
8/6 Indy 3 12 160/160 0/0 211,933 Running
8/13 Watkins Glen 1 19 90/90 2/38 117,333 Running
8/20 Michigan II 16 40 129/200 1/1 109,523 Accident
8/26 Bristol II 1 37 446/500 3/27 128,413 Running
9/3 California II 1 27 249/250 1/11 135,918 Running
9/9 Richmond II 18 27 398/400 0/0 105,808 Running
9/14 Loudon II 3 19 300/300 0/0 114,058 Running
9/24 Dover II 10 4 400/400 0/0 153,233 Running
10/1 Kansas 7 25 265/267 0/0 122,133 Running
10/8 Talladega II 29 3 188/188 3/3 169,108 Running
10/14 Charlotte II 42 32 208/334 0/0 102,258 Running
10/22 Martinsville II 1 27 496/500 1/19 112,118 Running
10/29 Atlanta II 16 14 323/325 0/0 131,333 Running
11/5 Texas II 3 8 339/339 1/37 164,833 Running
11/12 Phoenix Ii 8 8 312/312 0/0 93,050 Running
Starts Wins Top-5s Top-10s Poles Points
35 1 7 12 6 14th
Career Brief:
Starts Wins Top-5s Top-10s Poles Career Earnings
219 15 50 91 9 $35,425,623
Copyright © 2006 MotorsportToday.com
| Race Previews |
| Martinsville |
| Driver Index |
