KURT BUSCH’S FIRST NBS WIN AT TEXAS ONE FOR HISTORY BOOKS
-“KB” Becomes Only Fifth Driver To Win In His First Series Race; Sites “Total Team Effort”-

JUSTIN, Texas (April 8, 2006) – When Kurt Busch took his Penske Truck Rental/Miller Lite Dodge to Victory Lane in winning this afternoon’s O’Reilly 300 NBS race at Texas Motor Speedway, little did he know that his win was so historically significant.  Busch became only the fifth driver to win in his NBS debut, joining the list that includes Dale Earnhardt, Ricky Rudd, Terry Labonte and Joe Ruttman. 

            With his victory here today, Busch also became the 16th driver to win at least one race in each of NASCAR’s three major series.  Younger brother, Kyle, accomplished that feat last season.

            “This is great,” the ecstatic Busch said after the win.  “It was a true team effort and a statement as to what a great organization I have behind me at Penske Racing.  This is Roger’s baby and I’m just so thrilled that he has given me the opportunity to drive for this team.

            “This is what a program is supposed to be like over here in this series – a farm team type setup with the objective being to bring crew guys on up the ladder to be ready for the Cup series,” Busch continued.  “What we’re doing out there is the best on-the-job training there is.

            “Matt Gimbel demonstrated here today that he is going to be a great leader in this sport.  I’ve only known him for a couple of weeks now and the first time we’ve worked together was when I came in here to practice on Thursday.  He has a super group of guys working around him, too.  We had a top-three car for most of the race and when they got me out first after the caution with about 60 laps to go, that was the big difference.”

            Busch had started his bright yellow No. 39 Dodge in the seventh spot here today, but he was already up to second after 26 laps had been completed.  A tight handling condition saw him slide back to fourth before the first pit stop came on Lap 62.

            When the green flag stops cycled around on Lap 65, Busch was back in the sixth spot.  Several additional adjustments on a caution flag stop on Lap 84 worked to get Busch back running among the top three on Lap 92.  He passed Greg Biffle for second on Lap 102.

            During the second caution period of the race, Busch hit pit road for service on Lap 136.  A 14.271-second stop, which provided fresh tires, fuel and air pressure adjustments, saw Busch at the point for the Lap 140 restart.

            Busch survived six additional cautions and a final green-white-checkered finish in overtime to claim a 0.266-second win over runner-up Biffle.  Casey Mears finished third, with brother, Kyle, in fourth and Matt Kenseth fifth.  Jeff Burton, Paul Menard, Kevin Harvick, Scott Wimmer and Denny Hamlin rounded out today’s top 10 finishers.

            Today’s race was the first of six NBS races on tap for Busch this season.  He is set to compete in five additional races in this car, including Phoenix, April 21; Charlotte, May 27; Dover, June 3; Chicago, July 8; and Michigan, Aug. 19.

            “This is a great win for Penske Racing, but at the same time, it was a super learning experience for Kurt Busch in these race cars,” Busch said.  “Not only did I come away with a lot of knowledge of how you have to drive these cars, I saw first-hand how the strategy can play out with the tire situation.  We had used our last set of stickers and only had a set of eight-lap scuffs to put on if we’d pitted again.  The track position was just that important.  My spotter (Jeremy Brickhouse) did a great job in keeping me safe out there today and Roger was really helpful in keeping me up with what all the other teams were doing and what all our intervals were during the race.

            “Like I said, chalk this win up as yet another accomplishment by the great racing organization Roger Penske has put together.  I’m just so proud that he chose to let me be a part of it.”

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