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2006 SEASON USHERS IN NEW ERA FOR MILLER’S NASCAR TEAM
-Kurt Busch Ready to Add New Level of Excitement to Miller’s Great Racing Heritage-
Bobby Allison, one of the most respected champions in motorsports history. Rusty Wallace, an icon of success on and off the race track. Kurt Busch, a true racing legend-in-the making.
Natural ascension. Each man cut from the same cloth. All self-made champions. Each earning and deserving the privilege to carry the Miller Brewing Company’s colors in NASCAR NEXTEL Cup racing.
Miller’s sponsorship of NASCAR’s highest level of stock car racing dates back to Feb. 28, 1971, when the Milwaukee-based brewery sponsored the Miller High Life 500 at the Ontario (Calif.) Motor Speedway.
Since that day, Miller has established a motorsports heritage that is respected worldwide and looked upon as a paramount example of a major corporation executing successful and effective sports marketing programs.
Miller-sponsored race teams have won numerous series championships and all of America’s most prestigious racing events including the Indianapolis 500, the 24 Hours of Daytona and the U.S. Nationals NHRA drag race.
Nowhere has Miller’s backing been more impressive and successful than in NASCAR NEXTEL Cup racing, the fastest-paced and most highly-competitive brand of motorsports in the world.
Entering the 2006 season, Miller has been the major sponsor on cars in 856 races dating back to Feb. 20, 1983, at Daytona Beach, Fla., with renowned racer Allison driving the Miller High Life Chevrolet. Miller-backed cars have won 51 races and 30 pole positions, including 39 races and 29 poles during an incredible 16-year stretch with now-legendary driver Wallace. Along the way, Miller-sponsored entries have also recorded 218 top-five finishes and 397 top-10s.
Miller has won the prestigious NASCAR points championship title, in 1983 with Allison. Miller has visited Victory Lane in the most celebrated stock car race of them all, the Daytona 500, when Allison piloted his Miller High Life Buick to the win in the 1988 racing classic. Miller has even racked up NASCAR rookie-of-the-year honors, when High Life backed Wisconsin racing legend Dick Trickle in his successful bid for the title in 1989.
Wallace’s spectacular 523-race career behind the wheel of Miller-sponsored cars saw him amass an amazing record which featured the 39 race wins, 29 poles, a 10-race win season in 1993 and a runner-up finish in points that season. During those 16 seasons, Wallace also recorded 152 top-five finishes and 260 top-10 finishes.
In a NASCAR career that dated back to 1980, Wallace claimed wins on 14 of the 23 tracks, including the 1990 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte and an unbelievable nine victories overall on the demanding Bristol Motor Speedway. He enjoyed an incredible streak of 16 consecutive seasons of winning at least one race each year. Wallace closed out his remarkable career in 2005, piloting his Miller Lite Dodge into eligibility among the 10 drivers competing in the “Chase” for the series championship. Wallace ended the season eighth in the point standings, collecting eight top-five finishes and 17 top-10 finishes along the way. He completed the final 48 races of his career without experiencing a single DNF (did not finish).
With Wallace hanging up his driving helmet last year, the 2006 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup season ushers in a new era for Miller’s NASCAR program, with young Kurt Busch tapped to carry on the winning tradition.
From his humble career start on the racing bullrings of the west, Busch has earned his way to the top level in motorsports. Just as Allison and Wallace did years ago before getting their opportunities to excel in the big league, Busch made a name for himself on the short tracks.
At only 14 years of age, his father, Tom, introduced him to the Dwarf car series. He won the Nevada Rookie-of-the-Year title in 1994 and took the series championship the following year. The second-generation driver moved up to stock cars in 1996 and he captured the Hobby Stock division championship at the Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway that season.
Busch briefly left racing in 1997 to attend The University of Arizona in Tucson as he was interested in pursuing a degree in pharmacy science, but by 1998 he was back racing fulltime in the NASCAR Southwest Series. Busch claimed the series’s rookie-of-the-year title in 1998 and was crowned the Southwest Series Champion in 1999, becoming the youngest driver ever to win the title.
During a 1999 Southwest Series event on the Infineon Raceway road course in Sonoma, Calif., Busch caught the attention of NASCAR team owner Jack Roush. With the assistance of a NASCAR Grand National West official, Roush received a resume from Busch and he was invited to compete for an open ride in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
Busch got the nod to drive for Roush in the Truck Series in 2000 and he certainly made the best of his opportunity, winning four races, finishing second in points and taking the Raybestos Rookie-of-the-Year honors.
Busch’s quick success in the Truck Series led to his advancement directly into NEXTEL Cup competition in September 2001. Again, he showed astounding racing savvy, picking up his first series victory in only his 48th career start. His first win, coming at Bristol Motor Speedway on March 24, 2002, led to an amazing sophomore season in which Busch recorded four wins, 12 top-five finishes, 20 top-10 finishes and a third-place finish in the NEXTEL Cup points.
The 2003 season saw Busch win four more races and post nine top-five and 14 top-10 finishes. He was 11th in the final NEXTEL Cup point standings for the year, but he countered that by winning the IROC Series title for the year.
Busch bounced back in 2004 to win three races and record 10 top-five finishes and 21 top-10s en route to his exciting successful bid to claim the series title in the first-ever NASCAR NEXTEL Cup “Chase for the Championship.”
After adding three wins, nine top-five finishes and 18 top-10 finishes last season, Busch’s career record boasts 14 wins, 43 top-five finishes, 79 top-10 finishes and three pole positions in 184 career starts entering his inaugural 2006 season behind the wheel of the Miller Lite Dodge.
“Filling the shoes of Rusty Wallace will not be an easy task – Rusty has meant so much to NASCAR, to the fans, as well as to Miller Lite,” said Busch. “I only hope that I can make everybody concerned as proud as Rusty has over his 16 years driving the Miller cars. I can promise you that I’m going to try my hardest to do just that.
“It is my pledge that every time I get behind the wheel of that No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, I will do everything in my power to make the sponsors, the fans and my team members proud and focus on bringing home another NEXTEL Cup Championship,” Busch continued. “It is personally a thrill for me to be associated with Miller, a company with such a rich racing history.”
Wallace certainly is sold on the fact that Busch can carry on Miller’s winning tradition in 2006 and into the future.
“I had discussions with Kurt about what a great opportunity this is for him, what a great sponsor Miller is,” Wallace said. “I know he appreciates how lucky he is to get this ride … and I’m telling you, I think Miller’s lucky to get Kurt. He’s a phenomenal talent on the track, and I know he’s eager to work to become a great ambassador for Miller Lite off the track.
“It’s almost eerie to look and see how our careers have paralleled,” continued Wallace. “Kurt won his very first race at Bristol and so did I. He won his second career race at Martinsville, just as I did. Kurt already has 14 wins and four of those have come at Bristol, so that says a lot about his abilities. Once I hooked up with Blue Max Racing back in 1986, we were able to win the championship in our fourth full season together. Kurt won the championship in his fourth full season with Jack Roush.
“Kurt is a winner and a champion,” said Wallace. “He is very deserving of the opportunity to drive the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge.”
“Rusty completed 16 seasons…523 consecutive NASCAR Cup races behind the wheel of the Miller car…and that is a level of continuity currently unmatched by any other driver-sponsor partnership in the sport,” said Tom Long, Miller’s chief marketing officer. “We know Miller has benefited tremendously from this enduring alliance.
“Everyone at Miller has appreciated all of Rusty’s efforts and we have been honored to have him in our family,” Long continued. “He is one of NASCAR’s true living legends and we can all learn a thing or two from his commitment to excellence and dedication to his sport.
“So why did we want Kurt Busch? It's very simple. Kurt Busch is a winner.
He wins races. And he is from the West, an important market for Miller, and a region where the sport is exploding. And he is eager to show race fans that they haven’t met the real Kurt Busch yet.
“For a sponsor, it’s all about getting that camera time, being in the front of the pack, being seen as a winner,” Long concluded. “That means you have to be associated with a winner. Miller had that for 16 years with Rusty … and we’re very excited to continue that tradition with Kurt, the new driver of the #2 Miller Lite Dodge.”
The 2006 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup season consists of 36 points-paying races. The schedule begins at Daytona Beach, Fla., on Feb. 19 and concludes on Nov. 19 at Homestead, Fla.
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MILLER BREWING COMPANY’S NASCAR RACING RECORDS
(1983 Through 2005 Seasons)
Year(s) Driver Races Wins Poles Top-Fives Top-10s
1983-1988 Bobby Allison 159(a) 11(b) 1 51 88
1985 Greg Sacks 13 0 0 0 2
1986-1989 Bobby Hillin 116 1 0 7 32
1988-1989 Mike Alexander 17 0 0 2 6
1989 Dick Trickle 28(c) 0 0 6 9
1990-2005 Rusty Wallace 523(d) 39(e) 29 152 260
______ ______ ____ ______ _____
TOTALS 856 51 30 218 397
- Won the 1983 NASCAR points title.
- Won the 1988 Daytona 500.
- Won the 1989 NASCAR rookie-of-the-year title.
- Includes 29 races, two wins, two poles, nine top-fives & 16 top-10s with Blue Max Racing.
- Includes the 10-win 1993 season and runner-up spot in NASCAR points that season.
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