but first, these notes of interest:

--Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch will be receiving a very special honor in Phoenix on Thursday at 3:00 p.m. local time.  Stay tuned for additional information.

--Phoenix International Raceway has been like a “second home” to KB.  “Growing up in Las Vegas, I’ve always loved the opportunity to get to Phoenix,” he said.  “I love that area of the country and the people who live there.  It’s always so much fun to get back to Phoenix and we can’t wait to race there again this weekend.” 

--KB attended his first-ever Cup race there on Nov. 3, 1991, as a self-proclaimed “skinny little 13-year-old kid.”  He recalls his Phoenix racing history in this week’s advance release.  (You have to check out the attached image of KB on that date…thanks to Tom Busch and Jesse Walker.)

--KB has become quite the “Outdoorsman.”  While most of the Cup drivers left Texas Motor Speedway immediately after Sunday’s race, KB stayed behind, eager to take advantage of an opportunity he had with Mossy Oak brand camouflage company.  KB participated in a three-segment, two-day deer hunt that was filmed by the West Point, Miss.,-based company.  “Man, was that really cool or what,” KB said on Tuesday night after returning from the hunting adventure in the “Heart of Texas” near Brady, Texas.  “I shot a solid 8-point and so did my coach driver, Paul Bostic.  It was open-range hunting and we had a great time out there.  It was simply incredible.  It was right at 7:30 a.m. this morning and nine turkey and six deer ran right in front of us.  I had to wait until they cleared before I could get a shot at my deer.”  This marked KB’s sixth deer hunt over the last few years.  “Man, I can’t wait to get back out there again.”

--KB, with six poles, currently leads in the season-long battle for the most poles, with only two races remaining.  Dodge-driving Kasey Kahne is second with five entering this weekend’s race at Texas Motor Speedway.  Jeff Burton has four.  KB’s best career start at Phoenix in seven races has been second, his starting spot for the April 2005 visit to the track.  He qualified seventh for the most recent race, April’s Subway Fresh 500.   If there should be a tie in the battle for most poles, the tie-breaker goes to the driver with the most second-place starts.  Kahne has two the KB’s one at this time.

--With his best-ever Texas qualifying effort last Friday, a third, KB now again has the best average start of any Cup driver, a 9.765 average after 34 races.  He is now the only competitor with an average start under 10.  Jeff Gordon, who started 23rd at Texas, saw his average start drop to 10.176.  KB has amassed 23 top-10 starts, more than any other driver, and has started in the top five in 12 races.  He has only time-trialed out of the top 20 once, when he started 29th at Talladega.  He started 42nd at Lowe’s for the 10/14 race, after a post-qualifying infraction disqualified his third-place effort.  Without that infraction, his average start would be at 8.618.

--How does KB stack up against Kasey Kahne (five poles) and Jeff Burton (four poles), his closest rivals in the season-long battle for most poles in 2006, in qualifying consistency?  Kahne started fourth at Texas and now has a 13.176 average start, with 19 top-10 starts, but he has started outside the top 20 in nine races.  Burton, started 29th and has a 14.029 average start, with 16 top-10 starts.  He has started outside the top 20 in seven races.  Jimmie Johnson, who has won one pole this season, started fifth at Texas and now is tied with Gordon, his Hendrick Racing teammate, for the second-best average start (10.176).

--In KB’s seven career Phoenix Cup races, he has one win (April 2005), two top-five finishes and four top-10 finishes.  His Phoenix racing resume also includes races in the Craftsman Truck Series and the Southwest Tour.  He started sixth and finished fourth in the March 2000 truck race.  He competed in several Southwest Tour events on the “Desert Mile.”  During his 1999 series championship season, KB started third and finished fifth in the February race and started 11th and finished 32nd in the November season-ending event.  Even after crashing out of that race, KB still won the title by a whopping 328 points.

--The Phoenix Cup race will mark only the third time this season that Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch will be driving a brand new race car.  “We’ll be debuting our (PRS-) 107 car at Phoenix and we’re hoping for big things out of it this weekend,” explained crew chief Roy McCauley.  “The first time it will have ever touched a race track will be in the practice there on Friday.  Much was made of the success that Rusty (Wallace) used to have every time the team would bring out new cars.  We’re looking to pick up that same trend with Kurt this weekend at Phoenix.”

--KB will be celebrity bartending on Thursday night at the Buffalo Wild Wings location in Goodyear.  He will be behind the bar serving Miller Lites, interacting with the fans and taking tips for a worthwhile cause.  This week all the tips will be donated to the Luke Air Force Base family of charities.  KB will be bartending from 7:00 p.m. till 8:00 p.m. local time at the restaurant located at 13311 West McDowell Road in Goodyear.  For additional information, please contact Jarrett Babincsak at (602) 790-2996.

--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 are available for downloading on several web sites, including Lowe’s Motor Speedway at www.lowesmotorspeedway.com/catlinaward.pdf.

--“Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” –Henry David Thoreau

KURT BUSCH LOOKING FOR ADDITIONAL “GREAT TIMES” AT PHOENIX  -Miller Lite Dodge Driver Recalls His Memorable History at the “Desert Mile”-

AVONDALE, Ariz.  (Nov. 6, 2006) – The date was November 3, 1991, and Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch remembers it just as if it was only yesterday.

            “I was 13 years old and it was such a really big deal when my dad carried me to see my very first big NASCAR Cup race at Phoenix,” Busch recalled.  “Growing up in racing like I did and having my parents take me to the short tracks when I was just a toddler really helped put racing in my blood so early in life.

            “Watching all the big races on TV back then just added to the desire to get to see one live,” Busch continued.  “NASCAR added a new date at Phoenix for the Cup cars on the schedule back in 1988.  It automatically became the big hot ticket event for all the racers out West.  Growing up in (Las) Vegas like we did and without the big track there not getting a Cup date until 1998, Phoenix was where it was at back then. 

            “They came in there and made it such a tremendous racing weekend,” said Busch.  “Not only did they have all the big guys – the Cup teams – racing there, they ran the final race of the NASCAR Southwest Tour there, too.

            “My dad didn’t get to go to that first race back in ’88, but he went to the races in ’89 and ’90,” said Busch.  “Then in 1991, he told me pretty far in advance that he was taking me to the Phoenix Cup race that November.  It was like a kid anticipating Christmas for me back then.  I just couldn’t wait.

            “We got to go down into the pits before the race and I thought that was so cool,” recalled Busch.  “When they fired up the engines for the race, it was something like I’d never heard or seen before.

            “I remember that Davey Allison pretty much dominated the second half of the race and won by something like 12 seconds over D.W. (Darrell Waltrip),” Busch recalled.  “Sterling (Marlin) was driving that blue No. 22 car for Junior Johnson back then and he finished third.  I remember that (Alan) Kulwicki was fourth and that Rusty led a bunch of laps and finished fifth there that day.  Dale (Earnhardt) was a lap down, but he still finished ninth.  Man, that’s not too bad for me to be able to remember all of those details from a race that long ago.  I guess it was just such a big deal for me back then that it’s forever etched in stone in my mind.

            “My mom and dad still have a picture of me there at the race and when I look back at it now, it’s really neat,” said Busch. (Image available by request.)  “There I am, way back then as a skinny little kid, standing in front of  Rusty’s (Wallace) pit area before the start of the race and posing in front of the Miller Genuine Draft pit box.  My dad was a Mac Tools dealer and they sponsored Dale Earnhardt.  We had our Mac Tools/Dale Earnhardt tee-shirts on and were having more fun than we’d ever had.  We’re standing there holding up Rusty’s No. 2 pit sign.  That’s pretty cool to think about that day way back then and see how far we’ve been able to come.

            “When I finally got up to racing in the Southwest Tour myself, Phoenix certainly was the ‘biggie,’” Busch offered.  “It was our Daytona, our Super Bowl – whatever you want to call it – it was that big for all of us.  We ran twice a year there.  When I won the rookie-of-the-year award during the 1998 season, we opened up the year in January in the old ‘Winter Heat’ series at Tucson.  Then we hit Phoenix for the big Copper Classic race.  We raced on the new Vegas tracks with (restrictor) plates and I won there that April.

            “The Phoenix Southwest Tour races were always so huge, though, because of all the attention they got from the media and all the other short-trackers across the country,” said Busch.  “We raced there in February, before anybody else across the country did because of the weather.  (Ken) Schrader and some of the big guys would always come out and race with us.

            “But, the November race at Phoenix was always the one everybody talked about,” Busch continued.  “It was a big points race for us and you’d always have so many of the outsiders come in to run.  The seasons were already over weeks before in the Midwest, the Southeast and the Northwest, so many of those guys would head out to Phoenix to try to make the field.

            “In addition, it really stood out because we ran while the Cup guys were out there at the same time,” said Busch.  “It gave us an audience with the Cup drivers, crew members and team owners.  When you look back at that time, it really launched a lot of careers, that’s for sure.  I can look back and point at (Ron) Hornaday, for instance.  His success in the Southwest Series and particularly at Phoenix in the early and mid-90’s helped him catch the eye of Dale Earnhardt and, like they say, the rest is history.

            “Our championship season on the Southwest Tour back in ’99 will always be special to me and the Phoenix races were so important,” said Busch.  “We’d finished 11th in the first race at Tucson and needed a boost in Phoenix during the second race.  We started third in that race and ran up with the lead pack all day long to finish fifth.  That got us going and three races later, we were able to win at home in Vegas.

            “The momentum slowed down for our team about the middle of the season and we almost hit rock bottom after crashing out of the September Los Angeles street race,” said Busch.  “But we regrouped and came back stronger than ever.  We won four straight races and were looking for the fifth straight win in the final race of the year at Phoenix.  Unfortunately, we got caught up in a crash during the race and finished way back in the field.  The good thing, though, is that we had such a big lead in the points that we still won the championship by over 300 points.

            “One of the major things I’ll always remember from that race was when the dust had settled and we got all the media attention for winning the championship,” Busch said.  “It was the first big national TV interview I did.  Dr. Dick Berggren was the interviewer and I was pretty darned nervous, to tell you the truth.  He did a lot to keep me calm before we went on the air and the interview went very well.  I’ll always remember that and be thankful to him for that.”

            “Being from Vegas, Phoenix became like another home track for me,” said Busch.  “I ran the truck series race there in 2000 and did really well, starting sixth and finishing fourth.

            “So, by the time I got the opportunity to run my first Cup race at Phoenix back in 2000, there was a huge comfort factor I had there.  As many laps as I had logged in the Southwest Tour cars and then in the trucks, it certainly helped in my adapting to the track driving a Cup car.

            “Since then, we’ve had some success in the Cup Series at Phoenix, several top-fives and top-10s and finally winning there in 2005,” said Busch.  “There are actually a couple of other races that we probably should have won, when I stop and think back.

            “The last two races at Phoenix certainly haven’t gone as I had hoped.  All of the stuff that happened there last November has been well documented and I learned a great deal, personally and professionally, from that experience.

            “We got out there for last April’s race with a brand new race car and an ailing crew chief,” said Busch of the April 22 Subway Fresh 500.  “Roy (McCauley, crew chief) had to go into the hospital for tests after having some chest pains and we brought in Matt Gimbel to head the effort.  As always, he did a tremendous job, but I guess you could say that we got hit by ‘new car blues.’

            “It was the very first brand new car I had driven since getting the opportunity to drive for Roger’s team.  We were fastest in practice and wound up qualifying seventh.  We had a solid top-10 run going, but late in the race the window net came loose and fell down.  Before it was over, we’d gotten black-flagged and fell back to finish 24th. 

            “That race was pretty much representative of how most of our season has gone this entire year,” Busch said.  “We’ve shown a lot of potential – much more than what just looking at the numbers would lead someone to think. 

            “We’re coming back to Phoenix with another brand new car,” Busch said of his PRS-107 Miller Lite Dodge.  “We’re heading back out there with a super positive attitude and looking to have more great times at Phoenix.”

            This weekend’s schedule at Phoenix calls for practice on Friday from 11:35 a.m. till 1:05 p.m.  The single round of qualifying on Friday at 3:10 p.m. will allocate all 43 starting positions for Sunday’s race.  Saturday’s schedule features Cup practice sessions from 8:50 a.m. till 9:50 a.m. and from 12:05 p.m. till 12:50 p.m.  Sunday’s Checker Auto Parts 500 presented by Pennzoil at Phoenix International Raceway has a 1:30 p.m. local starting time. NBC and MRN Radio will broadcast the race live beginning at 1:00 p.m. local (3:00 p.m. EST).

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