But first, these notes of interest:

--Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch and his Steve Addington-led “Blue Deuce” team will debut their “PRS-715” Penske Racing Charger during the Kobalt Tools 500 action this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.  “This car is very similar to the ‘704 car’ we raced for the first time out at Fontana,” said team engineer Dave Winston.  “The guys are doing a great job at the shop in getting these new cars ready,” crew chief Addington said.  “It looks like we’ll have new Miller Lite Dodges at Bristol and Martinsville, too.”

--Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch enters this weekend’s Kobalt Tools 500 as the race’s defending champion.  His win in last year’s race, which was the 19th victory of the 2004 series champ’s storied career, came in dominant fashion, with Busch leading six times for 234 laps.  Busch later looked back on the big win as the “defining moment” for the 2009 season.  “Winning that race signaled to all the other competitors, the media and the fans that our team was for real and the ‘blue deuce crew’ would be contenders for more race wins and could be a player later on in the points battle,” Busch said.  “But most important was what the Atlanta win did for our team internally and all the positive impact it had all the way around.  It wasn’t just a win, it was a dominating victory and it set us off on a pretty respectable path for the rest of the season.  That was a special day and will always stand out as a special win.”  See much more on the subject in this week’s advance that follows and is attached.

--In case you missed it…Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch took part in a promotional visit to the world-famous “The Varsity,” the world’s largest drive-in restaurant in Atlanta a couple of weeks back as part of the media activities in support of this weekend’s Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.  "We had a ton of fun and hopefully sold a lot of tickets for the track," Busch said.  "I guarantee you that we turned on some new fans to our sport."  As part of the appearance, Busch actually donned the restaurant’s famous hat & apron and gave the famous cry of “What’ll ya have?” at the counter.  "Kurt was just unbelievable and such a pleasure to work with,"said AMS Director of Marketing and Promotion Marcy Scott.  "He's such a great ambassador for our sport and we're certainly proud that he's our race's defending champion.  He really touched a lot of hearts and made many new race fans during his visit."

For video of the visit, please go to this link:

http://www.nascar.com/video/cup/2010/preview/02/17/cup_fon_kubusch_varsity.nascar/

For photo gallery of the visit, please go to this link:

http://www.atlantamotorspeedway.com/handler.cfm/template,photo_gallery/sf_id,8318/cat_id,43897/?layout=print

--With the success Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch has had in recent years on the “intermediate” tracks along the NASCAR Sprint Cup circuit and with the tour returning to Atlanta where Busch is the race’s defending champion, chances are shaping up that some lucky fan will be driving a brand new Dodge Challenger in the upcoming weeks.  Sponsor Miller Lite announced their “When Kurt Wins, You Win” retail promotion last week, giving fans who purchase specially-marked packages of Miller Lite and enter the UPC code at http://millerlite.com/racing/  the chance to win a new car or other great prizes.  Legal-drinking-age racing fans can enter their official UPC entry code and register for the promotion online now through November 20, 2010. Look for specially marked 12-, 18- and 30-packs of Miller Lite or go to MillerLite.com/racing for more details.  “I told my friends at Miller Lite that I hope they have to give away a lot of Dodge Challengers this year,” Busch said.  “The more cars we give to fans, the better the chances are we’re at the top of the standings!”

--Last Thursday night’s Second Annual Sprint for the Kids benefitting the Kurt Busch Foundation at Pole Position Raceway in Vegas was a huge success and Busch is very appreciative for the great support the event received.  “We had a very positive and successful fundraiser and over $30,000 was raised between the 12 teams that showed up to compete.  We had quality Cup drivers.  We had quality Nationwide drives volunteer their time and bring in some of their crew members.  And then we had sponsors send some of their executives and employees to join in on the fun, but all for a good cause – the Kurt Busch Foundation – benefitting children in sports through teaching and education programs around the country.  It was just everybody competing hard and going for the win.  A guy like (Juan Pablo) Montoya was there…elbow’s up…(Martin) Truex, (Brad) Keselowski, Sam Hornish Jr. and Kelly Bires.  The special part of my team was that we had a couple kids from go-karts and late models from the local area trying to build their name up.  I know that I was given a great opportunity by the guy that owns Star Nursery (Star Nursery owner Craig Keough of Las Vegas) years ago.  Sometimes it just takes key hits and getting your name mentioned.  Like I said, everyone had fun and we raised a lot of money for a good cause and I wanted to send along a special thanks to everyone involved.”

--Miller Lite Dodge crew chief Steve Addington continues to be a special featured guest on Wednesday editions of the popular radio program, “The Morning Drive” on Sirius NASCAR Radio Channel 128.  Steve’s weekly slot is scheduled for Wednesdays at 9:00 a.m. ET.  “This has really been a lot of fun and it’s been quite impressive as to how many folks have told me how much they enjoy listening in to our segment of the show,” Addington said of the show hosted  by veteran race announcer Mike Bagley and racing insider Pete Pistone.  If you wish to participate, please e-mail the guys at themorningdrive@sirius-radio.com or call 1-866-PIT-LANE (866-748-5263). 

--Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch and his Steve Addington-led No. 2 Penske Racing Team will be testing at all sizes of race tracks in the upcoming weeks.  The schedule calls for a day of testing on March 9 at Gresham Motorsports Park, a half-mile oval asphalt track with a quarter-mile oval track within the main one located near Jefferson, Ga.  The schedule shows the Talladega open testing on March 16 on that massive 2.66-mile speed plant.  The team will be participating in the March 23-24 open testing at the 1.5-mile Charlotte Motor Speedway.  With NASCAR’s wing-to-spoiler transition, Busch is looking forward to getting in the laps on such a diverse lineup of race tracks.  “We’ll be testing on everything but a road course in the next couple of weeks and with the tracks we have coming up on the schedule, those will be some important test days,” said Busch.  The current car schedule for these tests sees the team using their “PRS-701” (last raced at California last fall and completely rebuilt) at Gresham, the “635 car” (Busch yet to race this car) at Talladega and the “PRS-712” (another new Penske Racing Dodge Charger) at Charlotte.

--Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch’s Atlanta Motor Speedway statistics (courtesy of NASCAR PR):

·         Two wins, two top fives, six top 10s

·         Average finish of 19.7

·         Driver Rating of 93.4, eighth-best

·         195 Fastest Laps Run, fifth-most

·         534 Green Flag Passes, 11th-most

·         Average Green Flag Speed of 171.640 mph, 10th-fastest

·         1,882 Laps in the Top 15 (57.7%), 13th-most

·         281 Quality Passes, sixth-most

--Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch is scheduled to be the featured guest at Sunday’s “Up To Speed” on the SPEED stage outside Turn 1 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.  The special Q & A session, hosted by PRN radio personalities, is set to begin at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday.

--Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch is scheduled to visit to his souvenir trailer at Atlanta Motor Speedway this Sunday from 9:45 a.m. till 10:15 a.m. to meet the fans and sign autographs. Please verify that time by visiting the trailer in advance and picking up the free tickets for the autograph line.

--“Victory is a matter of staying power.” –Elbert Hubbard

KURT BUSCH SAYS ATLANTA WIN WAS “DEFINING MOMENT” OF 2009
-Miller Lite Dodge Driver Looking To Make More Special Memories In Kobalt Tools 500 At A.M.S.-

HAMPTON, Ga. (March 2, 2010) – Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch comes into Atlanta Motor Speedway for this weekend’s Kobalt Tools 500 as the race’s defending champion and is eager to taste more success on the lightning-fast 1.54-mile quad-oval.  Last year’s victory, the 19th of his storied career, was definitely a special memory he would love to duplicate this time around.

            “We were doing one of our weekly top-12 media opportunities last fall and one of the media members asked me what I thought was the defining moment for our 2009 season and I almost immediately pointed to the big March win at Atlanta,” said Busch, who fell to 19th in the Sprint Cup point standings after innocently getting caught up in a crash last Sunday at Las Vegas and finishing 35th.  “I can look back today and say that definitely was the case for our Miller Lite Dodge Team.   The way our season has gone so far this year, we sure could use another race like that this time around, too.

            “When I think of a defining moment, it’s like pointing to one instance or occurrence that is so strong and so important that it can set the course for the future,” said Busch, who also won the fall race during the 2002 season at A.M.S.  “The Atlanta race was certainly the most important occasion for getting our 2009 season solidly on track and leading to the successful run we had last year. 

“Winning that race signaled to all the other competitors, the media and the fans that our team was for real and the ‘blue deuce crew’ would be contenders for more race wins and could be a player later on in the points battle,” Busch said.  “But most important was what the Atlanta win did for our team internally and all the positive impact it had all the way around.  It wasn’t just a win, it was a dominating victory and it set us off on a pretty respectable path for the rest of the season.  That was a special day and will always stand out as a special win.”

Busch started the March 8, 2009 Kobalt Tools 500 from the outside pole and went on to post one of the most dominant wins in NASCAR history.  He took the lead for the first of six times on Lap 6 and went on to lead 234 of the 330 laps in posting his 19th career Sprint Cup victory.  The battle for the win was kept close only by a late-race caution flag for debris that erased Busch’s healthy lead and set up a green-white-checkered flag finish.

Busch crossed the finish line to take a 0.332-second win over Jeff Gordon.  His post-race winning celebration was one of the most popular and entertaining entries into the 2009 season’s highlight reel.  He celebrated the win by stopping at the finish line, grabbing the checkered flag, throwing his Miller Lite Dodge Charger in reverse and backing around the entire track to show his appreciation to all the fans.  The Victory Lane celebration was as spirited as they get. 

Busch later held a contest for fans in order to come up with a name for his special celebratory lap, drawing some 10,000 “entries” to his website.  The name Busch chose was “The Unwind Lap.”

The winning “PRS-594” chassis immediately became the team’s favorite and that was certainly understandable.  Busch and crew debuted their “PRS-594” Miller Lite Dodge Charger in the February Auto Club 500 at Fontana, Calif., where Busch started fourth and led laps en route to a solid fifth-place finish.  The 234 laps that he led en route to the win at Atlanta were the most Busch has ever led in a single Cup race and were more than the 164 total laps he led during the entire 2008 season.

Busch and his Steve Addington-led No. 2 Penske Racing Team will debut their new “PRS-715” Miller Lite Dodge Charger in this weekend’s Atlanta race.  This is one of the latest generation race cars out of the Penske stable.

“The Atlanta win was huge last season – so big that you could definitely call it the defining moment for the year,” said Busch, who went on to post two victories along with 10 top-five finishes and 21 top-10s last season.  “Both wins last season were pretty monumental.  The Texas win will always stand out because of it being our first Cup win there and how we went about winning that one.  It’s such a prestigious place to get a win. 

            “Our wins during the ’09 season really couldn’t have come at a better time, when you stop and look back at it,” said Busch.  “It was like the Atlanta victory was our way of starting off the season with a bang and the Texas win was like the exclamation point, helping wind down the year with more success and so much positive energy going.

            “We’re coming back into Atlanta as the defending champions, hoping to defend the crown and make some more special memories there,” said Busch.  “I said a couple of weeks ago that we’d have a pretty good gauge on where we stand for the bulk of the season when the California, Las Vegas and Atlanta leg of the 2010 schedule is in the record book.  We came through with a sixth-place finish at Fontana and were going after another strong finish at Vegas before getting caught up in the other guys’ crash.  It would be great to come back into Atlanta and score another big win.  We fell to 19th in the points after last weekend’s hard luck, but another great weekend at Atlanta like we had last year can put us back up there in the thick of things.  That’s what we’re gunning for, that’s for sure. ”

This weekend’s Sprint Cup schedule at Atlanta Motor Speedway gets under way with Friday’s practice from 2:30 p.m. till 4:00 p.m.  Coors Light Pole Award qualifying to establish the starting grid for Sunday’s 325-lap battle is set for Friday at 6:10 p.m. local (live on SPEED-TV and PRN Radio).  Saturday’s final “happy hour” practice session is scheduled from 12:20 p.m. till 1:20 p.m. Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 (500.5 miles/325 laps) has a scheduled 1:00 p.m. ET starting time at the 1.54-mile Hampton, Ga., facility.  FOX-TV and PRN Radio will provide live coverage of all the action.

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