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KURT BUSCH STARTING NINTH IN DIRECTV 500 AT MARTINSVILLE
-Miller Lite Dodge Team Still Beaming From Last Week's Bristol Victory-
MARTINSVILLE, Va. (March 31, 2006) - As Kurt Busch and his Roy McCauley-led
Miller Lite Dodge Team prepared for Sunday's DIRECTV 500 here at
Martinsville Speedway, they were still being bombarded by expressions of
congratulations from last Sunday's big victory at Bristol.
"It's really been so cool the way the fans and all our friends
here in the garage have been coming up and offering their congratulations,"
said Busch, who won here in 2002, after starting from back in the 36th
starting spot. "That Bristol win was big and will always be one of my
favorites, but we're turning full attention now to getting ready for Sunday's
race here."
Busch made those comments prior to today's practice and
qualifying sessions. After spending the first 70 minutes of today's
90-minute practice session working on race their race setup, the team
focused the final minutes in qualifying trim. They turned in the 10th
fastest laps of the session, a lap of 19.732 seconds. Defending NASCAR
NEXTEL Cup champ Tony Stewart was fastest with a 19.670-second lap.
Busch was the 32nd of 49 drivers to take to the track here in
the qualifying session. He turned in a lap of 19.762 seconds on his first
lap and bettered that to 19.701 seconds (96.117 mph) on his second circuit.
It would stand good for the ninth starting spot.
Jimmie Johnson claimed the pole today with a fast lap of 19.575
seconds (96.736 mph). Jamie McMurray will start second after turning in a
lap of 19.583 seconds (96.696 mph). Stewart ran a 19.596 (96.632 mph) and
will start third. Ryan Newman starts fourth, with Kasey Kahne fifth,
Sterling Marlin sixth, Elliott Sadler seventh, Jeff Gordon eighth, Busch
ninth and Greg Biffle 10th.
"We were hoping for a little more than that, but we'll take it
and get back working on the race setup," Busch offered after qualifying had
concluded. We backed up what we ran in practice. I've never been a really
good qualifier here, with a couple of sevenths being my best starting spots,
so we're pretty pleased with where we'll be starting. The biggest thing
right now is trying to get the car handling better in the center of the turn
for the race. We hope the weather cooperates so we can get some more
practice here in the morning."
Saturday's schedule offers practice sessions from 9:00 a.m. till 10:00 a.m.
and from 10:35 a.m. till 11:20 a.m. Sunday's DIRECTV 500 is scheduled to
get the green flag at 2:00 p.m. and features live coverage by FOX-TV and MRN
Radio.
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