but first, these notes of interest:

--Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch and his Roy McCauley-led Penske Racing unit are among the teams testing at Homestead-Miami Speedway this week.  KB, Roy and crew have their PRS-093 Dodge and their PRS-081 Dodge down for the test.  The “93 car” has been a workhorse for the team this season, finishing second in both Pocono races.  It was last raced at Kansas Speedway three races ago.  The “81 car” has yet to be raced by the team this year.

--Nobody in NASCAR NEXTEL Cup racing is looking forward to this weekend’s return to Martinsville Speedway any more than Miller Lite Dodge crew chief Roy McCauley.  He is quick to name Martinsville Speedway as his absolute favorite of the 22 tracks along the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup circuit.  If he has his way, that will also be the case for his driver, 2004 Cup Champ Kurt Busch. (See release for details.)

--KB, Roy and the Miller Lite Team are racing their PRS-103 Dodge Charger this weekend at Martinsville.  The team debuted the car at Phoenix in April.  They raced it at Richmond in May and at New Hampshire in July.

--KB and Dodge-driving Kasey Kahne are tied for the most poles (with five each) entering this weekend’s race at Martinsville Speedway.  Jeff Burton has four.  KB’s best career start at Martinsville in his 11 races has been seventh, his starting spot for both races during the 2004 season.

--KB’s starting average took a heavy blow with the disqualification of his third-place qualifying effort Thursday night at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.  The penalty for a “non-conforming” shock absorber sent him from third to 42nd in the starting order.  The 42nd-place start dropped his average start to 10.065, while the third would have him at 8.806.  Even with the infraction, he continues to display a top qualifying consistency as he is tied with Jeff Gordon for the best starting average.  KB has amassed 21 top-10 starts, more than any other driver, and has started in the top five in 10 races. 

--How does KB stack up against Kasey Kahne and Jeff Burton, his closest rivals in the season-long battle for most poles in 2006, in qualifying consistency?  Kahne has a 13.032 average start, with 17 top-10 starts, but he has started outside the top 20 in eight races.  Burton has a 13.387 average start, with 15 top-10 starts.  He has started outside the top 20 in five races.

--KB’s Martinsville career Cup record boasts one win, two top-five finishes and four top-10s in 12 starts.  His win in the 10/20/02 race was his second career victory and it came after starting back in the 36th position.  He has yet to claim a Martinsville pole and his seventh-place starts in both 2004 races rates as his best to date.  KB started ninth and finished 11th in April’s DirecTV 500 at Martinsville as he drove a Miller Lite Dodge that was “wicked loose” the entire race. 

--KB’s first-ever race at Martinsville was in the April 2000 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event.  He started 22nd and finished 23rd, completing 245 of the 250 laps.  “I looked all around the place and said, ‘Wow, what a unique and fun place for us to race!” KB said of his first look at the Virginia track.  “By the time we were finished, though,” he continued with a chuckle, “I said to myself, ‘Man, this is about the most pathetic excuse for a race track that I’ve ever seen.”

--You are cordially invited to participate in the 22nd annual Miller Lite Motorsports Journalism Award for Excellence in honor of Russ Catlin.  The program, independently judged by the Indiana University School of Journalism, seeks to recognize and encourage outstanding motorsports coverage.

The categories for the 2006 Miller Lite Racing Motorsports Journalism Awards are:

• ·        writing entries for daily newspapers.
• ·        writing entries for other forms of written media.
• ·        broadcast entries for local television.
• ·        broadcast entries for national television.
• ·        photojournalism entries.

Please remember that any motorsports coverage from 2006 is eligible to win.  We encourage you to send your best motorsports work from this year.  The judges' only consideration is the quality of work and its ability to generate interest and excitement, not the type of racing covered.  A Rolex watch and special commemorative plaque will be awarded for the judges’ selection in each of the seven categories.

Entries must be postmarked by December 8, 2006.  Winners will be announced in early 2007.

Entry blanks are now available in media centers during the remaining races on the Cup schedule and are available by special request to TR.  They will be available for downloading on several web sites in the near future.

--“You cannot be mad at somebody who makes you laugh – it’s as simple as that.” –Jay Leno

McCAULEY DETERMINED TO MAKE MARTINSVILLE A BUSCH FAVORITE
-Miller Lite Dodge Driver Looking Forward To Final Short-Track Battle Of 2006 NEXTEL Cup Season-

MARTINSVILLE, Va. (Oct. 17, 2006) – Miller Lite Dodge crew chief Roy McCauley is quick to name Martinsville Speedway as his absolute favorite of the 23 tracks along the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup circuit.  If he has his way, that will also be the case for his driver, 2004 Cup Champ Kurt Busch.

            McCauley and Busch were in their team transporter last Thursday night at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, watching the conclusion of the qualifying session for last Saturday’s race on TV and discussing the five remaining stops on the 2006 tour.

            “Man, I’d sure like to win the most poles this season and get another win before the year is over,” said Busch, currently tied with Kasey Kahne for the most poles with five apiece.  “But, looking at the schedule, it’s gonna’ be really hard.  Like next week at Martinsville – man, I don’t know about that one – it’s definitely not one of my favorite tracks.”

            “Hey pal, it’s definitely one of my favorites – as a matter of fact it is my very favorite track,” McCauley shot back.  “Before it’s all said and done, it’s gonna’ be one of your favorites, too.  I guarantee you that.”

            McCauley’s love for the picturesque .526-mile Henry County, Va., track runs long and deep.

            “First of all, there’s all the tradition and history that Martinsville holds,” he said.  “There’s the place itself.  The people who have followed our sport as long as I have can certainly appreciate that.  We all remember the track when Mr. Earles (former track owner, the late H. Clay Earles) took such great pride in keeping the place beautiful.  The big pond he had out front with the ducks…all the beautiful azaleas…the hotdogs he made famous – the place has had such tremendous character through the years.

            “Then there is all the great racing history that has taken place there,” McCauley continued.  “Races like the old Dogwood 500 and Cardinal 500 that featured both the Modified and Grand National Divisions.  Martinsville used to be as big as the Daytona 500 for short-track racing 30 years ago or so.  It was as big as it got.  It’s so much fun to remember the days when Richie Evans, Charlie J. (Jarzombek), Ray Hendrick, Geoff Bodine, and all of those guys battled it out there in the modifieds.  In the old late model days – when guys like Butch Lindley and Bodine were driving for Emanuel Zervakis – the other drivers such as Sonny Hutchins, Sam Ard, Jack Ingram, Tommy Ellis -- there are just so many golden memories.

            “It probably helps, too, that Martinsville was the track where we won our first Cup race,”  McCauley said, referring to the October 2001 Old Dominion 500, when he was the team engineer for PPI Motorsports and driver Ricky Craven.

            “Mike Beam was the crew chief and he had a similar appreciation for the tradition and history of Martinsville,” McCauley continued.  “With Ricky’s background of racing in the Northeast and winning races like the Oxford 250, he was a young guy but still had a great understanding of what it meant to win at Martinsville. 

            “It really pains me to see so many of these young drivers out there these days who just don’t know or appreciate what an institution that Martinsville is in our sport,” McCauley said.  “I’m thankful that Kurt is not one of those guys.  He knows what it means to be successful at Martinsville and he is really proud of the Cup win he has there.  We’ll keep at it and eventually make it one of his favorite tracks, too.”

            Busch claimed his second career Cup win on the Martinsville track in the October 2000 race.

            “It was probably the biggest comeback in the history of the place, when you consider that we started way back in the 36th spot,” Busch said.  “We took the green and set sail.  We’d passed half the field after the first 150 laps.  We got spun by the 24 car, but didn’t hit anything and kept going.  “I remember that we had great pit stops and that really helped out.  We worked our way up into the top five and just kept going forward.  We were up to second with about 100 laps to go.  Johnny Benson was leading and we got by him and never looked back.  It was a great day and a huge team effort.

            “To tell you the truth, Martinsville reminds me quite a bit of a track that we ran on years ago along the NASCAR Southwest Tour – Cajon Speedway in El Cajon, California,” offered Busch.  “That place was a really tight three-eighths-mile paper-clip-shaped track.  I look at Martinsville as being just like a larger version of Cajon.  It’s a snug little half-mile paper-clip-shaped track.

            “For it being the smallest track that we go to, it presents about the biggest challenge all around,” Busch concluded.  “It’s about endurance, durability, patience and teamwork all wrapped up in one package.  It’s a tough and challenging race and it’ll be the same thing again there this weekend.”

            This weekend’s Martinsville action gets under way on Friday with a practice session from 12:05 p.m. until 1:35 p.m. leading up to the single round of qualifying at 3:40 p.m., which will determine all 43 starting positions for Sunday’s race.  Saturday’s schedule offers practice sessions from 9:30 a.m. till 10:30 a.m. and from 11:05 a.m. till 11:50 a.m.  Sunday’s Subway 500 is scheduled to get the green flag at 12:55 p.m. and features live coverage by NBC-TV and MRN Radio.

# # #