“TOTAL TEAM EFFORT” HELPS BUSCH FINISH SECOND AT POCONO
-Miller Lite Dodge Team Again Solid In Pennsylvania 500; But Finish As Runner-up To Hamlin-

LONG POND, Pa. (July 23, 2006) – Kurt Busch and his Roy McCauley-led Miller Lite Dodge Team put together another total team effort in today’s Pennsylvania 500 here at Pocono Raceway and it paid off with a solid second-place finish.  But, just as was the case here on this 2.5-mile triangular-shaped track in last month’s Pocono 500, Busch and crew had to be satisfied with the runner-up spot to rookie sensation Denny Hamlin.

            “That was another great total team effort for our Miller Lite Dodge Team,” a happy Busch said after turning in his fifth top-five and eighth top-10 performance of the season.  “The guys were great in the pits all day long.  All of their stops were in the 12 or 13-second bracket and that helped keep us up front.

            “The pit strategy paid off for us in that we were able to follow the lead of the 11 car and go from there,” Busch continued.  “It bit us early on in the race when we took four tires like they did and got mired on back in the pack when most of the teams went with two.  But we had a really strong hot rod and we kept on tuning on it.  With the changes we made and the great pit stops, we were back up there battling the 11 again for the win.
We were able to stay out a few laps longer than they did during the final green flag stops and picked up the bonus points for leading some laps.

            “They pitted and went with fuel and right-side tires and we did the same a couple of laps later,” Busch said.  “I really thought we might have had a shot at catching Denny there after the last restart (after the seventh caution of the race on Lap 179) and we closed the gap down to about half a second, but the car got really tight when we turned up the wick like that.  With about seven laps to go, I just had to come to grips with settling for second unless something happened to him.

            “I congratulate Denny and all the members of that 11 team for their back-to-back wins here at Pocono,” said Busch.  “They really have this place figured out.  We had to settle for the runner-up spot, but at least we were in the same zip code here today.

            “Now, we can go and relax and get ready for the big day on Thursday,” Busch concluded, referring to the day he will be getting married to Eva Bryan in a wedding set for the Virginia Beach, Va., area.

            Busch’s run here today helped much in the team’s goal of getting back into the top 10 in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings and make the cut for this year’s “Chase for the Championship.”  He entered today’s race 14th in the standings and trailing 10th-place Greg Biffle by 206 points.  Today’s performance moved him up to 13th and cut the deficit to 166 points behind 10th-place Tony Stewart.

            Jeff Gordon finished third in today’s race, with Brian Vickers fourth and Kevin Harvick fifth.  Jimmie Johnson was sixth, with Stewart, Bobby Labonte, Jeff Burton and Martin Truex Jr. rounding out the top-10 finishers.

            Johnson continues to lead the NEXTEL Cup point standings by 97 over Matt Kenseth and those two drivers have a healthy lead over third-place Burton.  The battle for the 10th spot continues to get tighter and tighter.  With his second consecutive DNF, Dale Earnhardt Jr. fell out of the top 10 today.  Only 53 points separate 11th-place Earnhardt from seventh-place Kasey Kahne.  Stewart has 2,477 points, Earnhardt has 2,462, 12th-place Biffle has 2,433 and Busch currently has 2,311 points.

            There are six races remaining to determine the competitors in this year’s Chase.  After taking next weekend off, the NEXTEL Cup tour heads to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Aug. 6 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.  NBC-TV and the IMS Radio Network will provide live coverage of that race beginning at 2:00 p.m. EDT.

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