Kurt Busch Leads Penske Racing at the Glen
August 11, 2008
After rain showers washed out qualifying on Friday, Busch started his No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge in 19th position and hovered around 15th in the running order for much of the 90-lap race. Despite having a splitter problem that caused a vibration in the car with 20 laps to go, Busch held on to finish 10th, his fifth top-10 finish of the 2008 NASCAR Cup Series season. Busch remains 18th in the 2008 NASCAR Cup Series driver point standings, 359 points behind 12th place, the cutoff for the 2008 NASCAR "Chase for the Cup," which begins in September.
"It was a big relief to finally have a race that was pretty much problem-free," said Busch. "We were about a 10th-place car. We could have been 15th or we could have been fifth. It was a great race for us, considering what this team has gone through during the last few weeks.
"I'm happy for this team to get a top-10 finish. That was a good day for us right now."
Newman and the No. 12 Kodak Dodge team started 16th and ran in the top 10 for most of the day, but a spin going into turn one with just 13 laps remaining began a chain of events that relegated the team to a 26th place finish. Newman remains in 15th place in the 2008 NASCAR Cup Series driver point standings, 204 points out of 12th place.
"You have good days and bad days," said Newman after the race concluded. "And today just wasn't our day when all was said and done."
After starting 34th, Hornish, driver of the No. 77 Mobil 1 Dodge, finished 32nd. Hornish was able to finish on the lead lap despite involvement in a stunning multi-car accident on lap 82, which saw the No. 77 broad-side into the barrel barricade at pit road entrance. Despite the hard hit, both Hornish and the Mobil 1 Dodge emerged relatively unscathed and were able to continue. Hornish and the No. 77 team remain 34th in the 2008 NASCAR Cup Series owner points standings.
"We got really lucky that we didn't damage the car any more than we did on that big wreck at the end," said Hornish. "It was a tough day, but we were fortunate that we were able to get our Dodge home."
The Penske Racing trio returns to action next Sunday afternoon, August 17, for the 3M Performance 400 at Michigan International Speedway. The race can be seen live on ESPN at 1 p.m. EDT and heard on the MRN radio network at 1:15 p.m. EDT.