Kurt Busch - NASCAR Cup Series Preview Bristol
August 19, 2008
"I just love Bristol, make no bones about it," said Busch, whose first career NASCAR Sprint Cup win came at the track on March 24, 2002, in only his third career BMS start and 48th start overall. "There's only one Bristol and everybody knows that.
"I get asked the question several times every week as to what is my very favorite track of them all," said Busch, who will likely do well over 100 sponsor-related race day hospitality visits at race tracks this year, including three scheduled for this Saturday at BMS. "At the hospitality functions, we always try to do a little question and answer session and that question about my favorite track will inevitably come up. It always does.
"I'll always answer first by going with the home-track angle, saying that it has to be whatever the particular track where we're racing that week," said Busch. "That always works to soften up the crowd and get everyone really interested. But I'm always quick on the draw to tell them the entire story shortly after that, telling them emphatically that Bristol Motor Speedway is my absolute favorite track.
"With all the success we've had there over the years, the track is like a second home to me," added Busch. "With the track configuration done last season, I think it's made it even better than ever for the competitors and fans alike.
"There may be an element of fans who may disagree, particularly if they came just to see the crashes and pileups. But with the new layout, it's not a necessity to tap the guy in front of you to make a pass. There are multiple lanes now and it's so conducive to providing more competitive side-by-side racing."
If Busch, the 2004 NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion, comes off sounding like the "ultimate pitchman" for BMS, he certainly does not mind. In fact, he welcomes any opportunity to bestow merit on the facility.
"Man, what can you say? Bristol is Bristol and there's nothing else like it," said Busch. "This weekend's night race there is the hottest ticket in all of motorsports. Where else can you see 160,000 screaming fans all sitting around a track that looks more like a huge stadium or arena with the grandstands and sky boxes that circle the place? It's a place that carries so much electricity in the air. You never get tired of racing there and always look forward to coming back. I've often said that I wish we ran five races a year there and not just the two. I just truly love the place."
Busch's overall career BMS record also sports nine total top-10 finishes in those 15 starts. He won both races there in 2003. He also has one pole position, being the top qualifier for the 2006 Sharpie 500. Busch started 19th and finished sixth in last year's Sharpie 500. After qualifying was rained out in the circuit's most recent visit to the track back in March for the Food City 500, he started 36th and drove to a 12th-place finish.
"I scored my first career win at Bristol," Busch said. "Four of my five Bristol wins have come in the day race and the win at Bristol in the night race of 2003 will always stand out in my mind as a favorite race win.
"But that first win back in 2002 was special because it was my first career win," Busch said. "Of course, the spring race win in 2006 will always be memorable because it was my first win as a driver for Penske Racing. I guess you can say that Bristol is a track that holds so many special moments for my career and we hope to have quite a few more in store in the years to come."
While the Bristol track has been the scene for so much positive results through Busch's career, he certainly endured a learning curve before winning on the track known as the "World's Fastest Half-Mile."
During his first-ever visit to the track for the March 25, 2001 Food City 500, the Las Vegas native experienced an unbelievably difficult weekend that he can humorously reflect on today. The official race report shows that Busch started 39th and finished 42nd. He completed only 118 of the 500 laps and exited the race due to an accident.
"There was definitely a learning curve for me at Bristol," Busch recalled with a grin recently. "All you have to do is go back and look at my first Cup race at Bristol back in 2001. It wasn't pretty. As a matter of fact, it was downright ugly. The first time I crashed that day, it was on my on. The second time I wrecked, I was in a big pileup. I guess you could say that the third time was the charm, in that we punctured the radiator in that crash.
"That put us out for good," Busch continued, now laughing as he recalled his first Bristol race. "They just kept on fixing it and putting me back out there to get track time. When we were finally done for the day, I looked up on the board and there were still about 400 laps of racing left. They didn't have the tunnel down in the third turn at the time, so I was forced to sit there and watch all the others go at it for another three hours.
"I promised myself that day a situation like that would never happen again. It became a necessity in my mind to become a good racer at Bristol. I guess I've done a pretty decent job at accomplishing that goal."
This weekend's action at Bristol Motor Speedway gets under way with Sprint Cup practice on Friday from 12:00 noon till 1:30 p.m. Saturday night's 43-car starting field will be determined in Friday's 3:40 p.m. single round of Cup qualifying. The final practice for the Sprint Cup cars is set from 6:25 p.m. till 7:20 p.m. on Friday. Saturday's Sharpie 500 (500 laps, 266.5 miles) Sprint Cup race has an 8:00 p.m. EDT starting time, with ESPN and PRN Radio presenting live coverage.
--Kurt, Pat and crew will be racing their "PSC-560" Miller Lite Dodge Charger in this weekend's Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. The team debuted this chassis at Martinsville back in the spring (in March 30 Goody's Cool Orange 500 where Kurt started 20th and finished 33rd due to overheating problems). "We've gone back and completely reworked the entire car, so it'll be almost like rolling a brand new car off the trailer there at Bristol on Friday morning."
--Bristol is Eva's favorite track, too! "It was the very first track I ever visited and that trip to Bristol will always stand out as being so special," Eva explained. "Kurt and I hadn't been dating that long back in 2003 when he invited me to come to Bristol for the night race (on Aug. 23, 2003). I took him up on the offer, but really didn't know what to expect. Having the Bristol night race as a first-race experience was impressive enough, but to be there and see Kurt win in my first time to the track was extra-special. There's always something special about coming to Bristol and I think there will always be. The night race there is just unbelievable. You have to experience it to believe it. As exciting and impressive as it is on TV, there's just no way to do it justice. You really have to be there to witness it live. I guess you could say that I got spoiled pretty fast at Bristol. Kurt won the night race in 2003 and we came back for the spring race of 2004 and he won that one, too. I know just how much Kurt loves the track and that affection for Bristol has certainly rubbed off on me through the years, that's for sure."
--Kurt, Pat and crew have already let it be known that, without a shot of being in the "Chase" this season, their plan is to utilize the final 10 races this season in getting better prepared for the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup campaign. "I guess y