FRUSTRATING DAY AT LOUDON FOR BUSCH & MILLER LITE TEAM
-38th-Place Finish Sees Team Fall In Points; Still Seven Races To Make 2006 Chase-

LOUDON, N.H. (July 16, 2006) – Kurt Busch and his Roy McCauley-led Miller Lite Dodge team showed their tenacity during today’s LENOX Tools 300 here at New Hampshire International Speedway, but a late-race crash spoiled hopes of keeping their recent competitive streak intact. 

            After coming back from being a lap down on two separate occasions in today’s 300-lap race, an incident on Lap 233 ruined what could have been a good “big picture day” here on this 1.058-mile flat race track.

            “We got down a lap twice and came back,” offered crew chief McCauley back in the garage after the battle had concluded.  “I thought that, at worst, we were a 12th through 15th-place team.  Just look at the finishing order.  The guy responsible for taking us out (David Stremme) finished 11th.  We had been running as good as or better than the 18 (J.J. Yeley), the 22 (Dave Blaney) and the 17 (Matt Kenseth) and they finished 12th through 14th.

            “We took a hit today.  We’re down, but we’re certainly not out.”

            After starting today’s race from the 10th starting spot, Busch climbed to eighth and ran there until the first caution flag flew on Lap 20 for a Travis Kvapil spin.  While most of the leaders pitted, Busch was among a group that chose to stay out and gain track position.  Busch was up to third, but after making a scheduled pit stop under green on Lap 77, he was caught a lap down when the second yellow flew on Lap 91 when Penske teammate Ryan Newman got into Tony Stewart.

            Busch stayed out and was in front of the leaders when Michael Waltrip spun Newman on Lap 95 to bring out the third caution of the race.  Busch found himself back on the lead lap and in the 27th position.

            Fighting an ill-handling car, the team used air pressure and track bar adjustments in trying to make the car to Busch’s liking.  After inserting a rubber in the right rear spring under the Lap 96 pit stop, Busch restarted 25th.   Even though the rubber did more harm than good, Busch was back up to 15th when he pitted for the second time under green on Lap 181.

            Just as had happened before, he was caught a lap down when Kenny Wallace’s crash in Turn 2 brought out the sixth caution period on Lap 187.  He lined up again at the tail end of the lead lap for the Lap 195 restart.  Joe Nemechek’s crash in Turn 4 only four laps later brought Busch returned Busch to a solid lead lap driver for the Lap 205 restart.

            When the eighth yellow of the day flew on Lap 210, Busch hit pit road for fuel only and was up to 14th for the Lap 215 restart.  The combination of the spring removal and a wedge adjustment done during the stop under the seventh yellow caused the car to get super tight. 

            Busch had faded to 15th on Lap 233 when David Stremme body-slammed him in Turn four and sent him into the concrete.  He dove immediately onto pit road as the ninth caution flag of the race waved.  The team attempted to repair their Dodge on pit road, but the damage was so extensive that Busch was relegated to the garage on Lap 240.

            When the repairs were made, Busch returned to action running 22 laps down to the leader – his younger brother, Kyle.  The focus for the Miller Lite team was just to log laps and make it to the finish.

            Up front, a final caution on Lap 299, caused by a crash involving Clint Bowyer and Brian Vickers, set up a green-white-checker finish and caused several drivers to lose spots at the end due to fuel mileage.

            At the checkered flag, it was Kyle Busch taking the win over Carl Edwards.  Greg Biffle finished third, with Mark Martin fourth and Kevin Harvick fifth.  Denny Hamlin was sixth, with Jeff Burton, Kasey Kahne, Jimmie Johnson and Scott Riggs rounding out today’s top-10 finishers.

            Busch’s 38th-place finish dropped him to 14th in the standings with seven races remaining to determine the competitors eligible for this year’s “Chase for the Championship.”  With 2,136 points, Busch is now 206 points out of 10th, the spot held by Biffle.  Stewart is now 11 points out of the top 10 after today’s 37th-place finish.  Hamlin is 12th and 18 points out and Edwards is 13th and 146 points out.

            “Like they say, it’s not over till it’s over,” Busch offered regarding the points battle.  “We took a major hit here today, but there are still seven races to go and almost anything can happen.  We’ll just take them one at a time and try to get all we can.  We go back to Pocono next week and that could be a good spot for us to make up some ground.  We finished second there last month and sure could use another good finish like that there next weekend.”

            Next Sunday’s Pennsylvania 500 has a 2:05 p.m. EDT starting time and features live coverage by TNT-TV and MRN radio.

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