KB FINISHES FIFTH IN DODGE/SAVE MART 350 AT INFINEON RACEWAY
-Miller Lite Dodge Driver Up Two Spots In Points To 14th; Now 165 Out Of 10th-

SONOMA, Calif. (June 25, 2006) – Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch and his Roy McCauley-led Penske Racing South Team started today’s Dodge/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway on the pole and led some 30 laps en route to a fifth-place finish.  His third consecutive top-10 finish and a 5.3 average during that period has moved him up to 14th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup points and trimmed his deficit to 10th to 165 points.

            “That was a good solid day for us,” KB said after climbing out of his car and while resting on the pit road wall.  “Jeff Gordon was certainly the class of the field here today, but we probably had a car that could have finished second.  We led some laps and then got behind on our pit sequence.  The team did a great job with adjustments, but a couple of the other teams were able to get out a little faster.  Right there at the end, it was all about track position.

“We tweaked on our setup and we ended up going back to our original starting point, so we didn’t quite learn what we needed to during the race, but it was a nice solid day,” KB said.  “We set ourselves on a solid pace, and that’s how we made it to the end. It was a nice top-five finish. I thought we could run just as good as Newman and he finished second. They all came out ahead of us on the pit sequence (after a 15.2-second final pit stop). We raced with them. We held off Boris Said down the stretch, so it was a good day for the Miller Lite Dodge. That’s three good runs in a row and we’ll just keep getting it hopefully.”

Gordon marched up through the field to take the lead for the first time of the day on Lap 49.  He lost the lead under the second round of green flag pit stops as Terry Labonte had pitted under and earlier caution and was attempting to stretch his fuel to go the distance, an unbelievable 54 laps around this 1.99-mile layout.

Gordon was strong enough to overtake Labonte and regain the lead on Lap 88.  He cruised on to take the win in the race, which saw three caution flags and a red flag period slow the pace during the final 16 circuits.  Newman was able to overtake Labonte on Lap 104 for the second spot, before the red flag came out for a multi-car crash in Turn 2.  Aided by the ample caution laps during the final stretch of the race, Labonte was able to take third, behind winner Gordon and runner-up Newman.  Greg Biffle finished fourth, with KB fifth, Carl Edwards sixth, Jeff Burton seventh, Elliott Sadler eighth, Boris Said ninth and Jimmie Johnson 10th.

Johnson is the points leader with 2,434 points and Matt Kenseth holds down the second spot with 2,333.  In the big battle to make the top 10 and earn a spot into the “Chase” for 2006, Kevin Harvick currently holds down the 10th spot with 1,945 points.  Rookie Denny Hamlin is 11th with 1,936; Kyle Busch is 12th with 1,925, Edwards 13th with 1,872, KB 14th with 1,780 and Casey Mears 15th with 1,757.

“It’s been great to come from my team and then their experience with Rusty,” KB said.  “We were running on adrenaline early on. Now we’re starting to click. There’s plenty of time left for things to go right. We feel like we we’re poised to do what we need to do.”

The NASCAR NEXTEL Cup tour now heads back to Daytona International Speedway for next Saturday’s Pepsi 400.  The battle under the lights begins at 7:55 p.m. EDT and features live coverage by FOX-TV and MRN Radio.

# # #