CHASSIS WOES PLAGUE MILLER LITE DODGE AT CALIFORNIA
-Driver Kurt Busch Remains Upbeat After 16th-Place Finish Moves Him Up In NEXTEL Cup Points-

FONTANA, Calif. (Feb. 26, 2006) – After starting on the pole and leading the race early in today’s Auto Club 500 here at California Speedway, Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch saw the handling go away on his car, relegating him to a 16th-place finish.  Although it was certainly not the great day he had expected, Busch remained upbeat and smiled as he reflected on what positive aspects today’s race offered.

            “It wasn’t the great day we were hoping for, but we’ve been racing here at this level long enough to know that it could have been a whole lot worse,” Busch said to the throng of media members gathered behind his team transporter after the race.  “I think we’re fine. We learned as a team what we need to do. We’ve definitely got cars that can go fast when the track is fresh and green just like (Penske Racing teammate Ryan) Newman has shown before. We just need to build a little more downforce into it and keep the front valence on the car.”

            Busch returned to the team transporter immediately after the race to join crew chief Roy McCauley and team engineer Derek Stamets in a closed-door debriefing session.  Some 20 minutes later, the three team leaders emerged, acknowledging that today’s race was indeed a learning experience.

            “We went way too soft with the springs, and that really hurt our chances,” Busch explained.  “We were really good for one lap. I was with their program and wanted to do what I thought was best for our program and team. It just hurt us in the long run. We had a good car on short runs and a bad car on long runs.  We’ll have a firm grip on the situation when we come back here to race in the fall.

            “One of the big positives I saw out there today was the work in our pits,” Busch said.  “Our guys were just super on pit road.  They reeled off consistently good pit stops and had a couple down there in the 12-second bracket.  After having a few problems occur at Daytona last week, it was great to see the boys really have their act together here today.”

            Busch started today’s Auto Club 400 from the pole and led the first five laps, before giving way to a hard-charging Greg Biffle.  Busch’s Dodge was already developing a tight condition on the seventh lap.  He was running third when the first caution flag of the race flew on Lap 30.  The team began what would turn out to be a glut of chassis adjustments during the race in search of getting the car right.  Numerous track bar and air pressure adjustments led to the team finally extracting a left-rear spring rubber during a pit stop under the third caution period of the race on Lap 197.

            Regardless of the changes, the Miller Lite Dodge was never able to respond as Busch, McCauley and crew had hoped.

            “We just missed our setup, no real big difference between the cars,” Busch said of the “04 Dodge he was driving here today versus the new Dodge Charger.  “We were so fast in practice. We sat on the pole, and it was hard to change the car. We learned quite a bit here today, I can tell you that.”

            If the chassis woes weren’t difficult enough, Busch was extremely fortunate that a Lap 224 mishap didn’t eliminate him totally from the competition.  Attempting to hold his own until his crew could make additional adjustments, he was tagged from the rear by rookie J.J. Yeley while exiting Turn 4.

            “We had to go three wide and everybody was trying for position at the end of the race,” Busch later explained of the incident.  “I heard three wide and I just slid up a little bit and tried not to crowd anybody. Somebody pushed up and hit the middle car and the middle car came in and hit us. We were lucky we didn’t get hit as we spun down the racetrack. We made it through, but that’s the way it goes some days. It wasn’t his (Yeley’s) fault. We were just racing hard. Last week it was somebody just driving over his head. No problem with Yeley. You expect things with guys from yellow back bumpers to learn, and I think he learned from that.”

            Today’s race looked to be a playground for Biffle as he easily had the dominant car until engine problems took him from the competition after 229 of the 250 laps had been completed.  He exited today’s race just after defending series champ Tony Stewart, who also had a strong car, had been forced to the garage for the same problem.

            Matt Kenseth, who started back in the 31st spot, came on strong at the end of today’s race.  Kenseth had moved all the way up to second, behind Biffle, at the race’s midpoint.  On the Lap 224 restart, coming after the fifth caution period of the race, Kenseth grabbed the lead and looked to have the car to beat.

            When Scott Wimmer’s blown engine brought out the seventh yellow flag of the race on Lap 246, that set up a green-white-checkered finish and the opportunity for others to overcome the advantage Kenseth had mounted.  However, after the single-file restart, Kenseth’s Ford proved too strong for the rest of the field and he was able to claim the win.  Jimmie Johnson finished second, with Carl Edwards third, Kasey Kahne fourth and Jeff Burton fifth.  Jamie McMurray was sixth, with Casey Mears seventh, Yeley eighth, Mark Martin ninth and Kyle Busch 10th.  Dale Earnhardt Jr., rookie Denny Hamlin, Jeff Gordon, rookie Clint Bowyer, rookie Martin Truex Jr. and Miller Lite Dodge driver Busch rounded out the top 16 finishers here today.

            Johnson leads in the NEXTEL Cup standings after the first two races with 355 points.  Mears is second with 316, Kenseth third with 308, Kahne fourth with 295 and Earnhardt fifth with 287.  Busch advanced from 38th up to 25th with his finish here today and has 174 points.

            “We’re just sorry we weren’t able to give Kurt what he needed to get the job done here today,” McCauley offered, as the crew was doing the mandatory post-race engine teardown required of the pole-winning team.  “He’s such a great driver to work with and this team has bonded so well together in supporting Kurt.  We learned a lot here today and it will pay us dividends in the future.”

            “We’ll take next weekend off and really get back at them when we get to race at my home track, Las Vegas Motor Speedway,” Busch concluded.

After next weekend’s break in the schedule, the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the March 12 running of the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400.  The 400-mile, 267-lap battle is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. local time and features live coverage by FOX-TV and the Performance Racing (Radio) Network.

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