KURT BUSCH OVERCOMES ADVERSITY TO FINISHISH THIRD IN PEPSI 400
-Miller Lite Dodge Team Bounces Back From Radio & Battery Problems To Continue Momentum-
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (July 1, 2006) – Kurt Busch and his Roy McCauley-led Miller Lite Dodge Team overcame obstacles that included faulty radio communications and electrical woes to post a third-place finish in tonight’s Pepsi 400 here at Daytona International Speedway.
“I’ve been saying for the last three or four weeks that our team is finally coming around and showing its potential and I guess this is further proof of that,” a delighted Busch said on pit road after climbing from his Miller Lite Dodge and attempting to cool down from the oppressive heat. “We fought back from problems tonight and came home with another top-five finish.”
Busch scored his fourth consecutive top-10 finish and third top-five tally in the past four races here tonight. The strong performance saw him make great strides toward the team’s goal of reaching the top 10 in points and gaining eligibility into this year’s “Chase for the Championship.”
After 17 races have now been completed this season, Busch is up to 13th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings. He is now 103 points behind 10th-place Denny Hamlin. He has made up an unbelievable 162 points in his deficit to 10th in just the last four races.
“All in all it was a good day to be able to run up front and have a good teammate like Ryan Newman to be able to draft with,” Busch said of his Penske Racing South teammate who finished 11th. “It was really cool to be able to race with my little brother at the end. I was trying to tell him telepathically to drag the brake and slow down a little bit and maybe we could draft by Tony (race winner Tony Stewart), but it was a solid 20 car. It was tough to pass him.”
Busch started tonight’s race from the 16th starting spot, but experienced radio transmission problems even before the green flag was dropped. Crew chief McCauley suggested that Busch resort to his backup radio and the team had to finally switch to their third frequency channel to completely remedy that problem.
But the biggest scare of the evening for Busch, McCauley and crew came on Lap 30 when Busch reported that his ampage meter had dropped below 10 amps. After switching ignition boxes, the crew determined that a failing battery was the problem. Busch was instructed to cut off all his energy-draining switches including the engine’s and his personal cooling systems.
“We had a battery go dead halfway through the race,” Busch explained in the infield media center after the race. “We had to make a pit stop, under yellow of course, and worked our way through that.”
Busch caught the break he needed on Lap 87 when the third caution flag of the race flew for debris on the backstretch. The team was able to pit their Dodge under yellow on Lap 89 for the battery change and follow that up with a major chassis adjustment when Busch hit pit road again the next time around.
“We made adjustments on the car all night and to bring home our Dodge with a third-place finish, the best Dodge, that’s a great race for us,” Busch said.
Stewart led on six occasions for a total of 86 laps in posting his dominant win here tonight. Kyle Busch finished second, with KB third, pole-winner Boris Said fourth and Matt Kenseth fifth. Elliott Sadler, Casey Mears, Jamie McMurray, Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer rounded out tonight’s top-10 finishers.
Johnson continues to lead the points, but by only eight over Kenseth (2,501 to 2,493). Almost all eyes are now focused on the battle to make the top 10, however. Hamlin holds down the 10th spot with 2,048 points. That is only six points ahead of 11th-place Greg Biffle and 14 in front of 12th-place Jeff Gordon.
“The Miller Lite team continues its momentum,” Busch concluded. “I hope we get just as good a finish next week at Chicago.”
Next Sunday’s USG Sheetrock 400 at Chicagoland Speedway has a 2:35 p.m. CDT starting time and the 400-mile, 267-lap battle will feature live coverage by NBC-TV and MRN Radio.
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