Dodge Motorsports Notes & Quotes - Kurt Busch Open Interview - Phoenix 2
November 11, 2011 , AVONDALE, Ariz. - Friday, Nov. 11, 2011
Dodge Kurt Busch Open Interview
Dodge Motorsports PR
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Kobalt Tools 500
Phoenix International Raceway
KURT BUSCH (No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ultra Dodge Charger R/T)
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON VETERANS DAY? “It’s an important holiday to reflect on what our military has done. Being involved with the PVA this year and the Armed Forces Foundation, it’s been great to see their action in work, whether it’s been pace car rides at Daytona that I’ve done or taking these guys around the race track here in the garage area. Just getting them to the track and getting their minds off of some of the history that they have with post traumatic syndrome disorder, or some of the guys that have some amputated arms and legs. Just getting ‘em into the NASCAR experience is exciting for me to give back to some of our military that are active or even visiting some of the VA hospitals like I’ve done this summer, just to see some of our old veterans, guys like from the Korean War or Vietnam, guys that think they’ve been forgotten about, it’s nice to reflect back with them.”
HOW WAS PRACTICE? “Track is getting better. It’s taking in rubber, widening out the groove a little bit and I’m real excited to watch the Nationwide race just to see how the race plays out.”
HOW DIFFERENT IS IT OUT THERE? “We’ll see what happens. Right now you’re on edge because you’re trying to continue to advance but the track, it’s going to continue to get better so you have to adjust to the track’s changing conditions. It’s just a lot better this time around being 75 degrees instead of 115.”
DO YOU THINK IT’S A GOOD IDEA TO GO AHEAD AND REPAVE IT NOW INSTEAD OF WAITING UNTIL AFTER THE SEASON? “Well, they can’t wait until after the season because we race here the first of March, not enough time to do it. We’re going to see the same thing with Kansas Speedway next summer.”
DID THE ATTEMPTS TO PUT DOWN RUBBER ON THE TRACK WORK AT ALL? “The track gave us a lot more confidence this time around. Being one of the guys to do the original tire test, it’s so tough because there was just one little patch on the race track where we were running because everything else was very dusty, dirty with the oil coming up and made it real slick. This time around, very forgiving and it’s going to have a good look to it at least.”
SOME DRIVERS SAID THE TRACK WAS A LITTLE BIT SLICK YESTERDAY. “On a repaved track, they are just very unforgiving. Once you’re out of the groove, you lose over a second and then you go back into the groove and you get your times back down.”
YOUR BROTHER HAD A ROUGH WEEK LAST WEEK. DID YOU HAVE ANY CONVERSATIONS THIS WEEK? “Yeah, it’s been a tough week for him. He’s my brother, you know. I love him and I know he regrets what happened last week. It’s his circumstance, it’s his issues and I’m glad that Coach Gibbs is happy to work through all of that.”
DID YOU GIVE HIM ANY ADVICE? “Plenty of advice, oh yeah.”
THIS IS THE FIRST SEASON USING THE NEW POINTS SYSTEM. ARE YOU HAPPY WITH THAT? “I think if you look back on the old system versus the new, you’d have every guy in the top 12 almost in the same position.”
HOW DO YOU GET A CAR TO GO FAST AT HOMESTEAD-MIAMI SPEEDWAY? “That track, it’s tough to get the car to settle into the corner. If you get comfortable driving down in, it just makes the whole corner a lot easier. But running that top groove seems to be key at Homestead.”
ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO MONDAY’S TRIP? “Monday will be neat to go out to visit Shell’s distribution guys as far as the upstream side of how you get oil out of the bottom of the ocean to what we put into our cars at the gas station. So you have the upstream side, you have the downstream side, and it’s really neat to be part of Shell’s master programming. They’re going out to visit what some of the groups do as contractors for the Shell Oil Company. So I’m real excited about Monday. It’s an hour-and-a-half chopper ride over open water and to see the guys out on the rig. It’ll be interesting to see how they work and live out on that rig.”
WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO MOST IN THE OFF-SEASON? “Just to relax and to get away. It’s a long, grueling season and there’s always photo shoots, testing, media opportunities. It’s just nice to get away from it all for a few weeks.”
WHICH NON-CHASER MIGHT BE ONE TO WATCH NEXT SEASON? “(Greg) Biffle has always been a guy that I think is a Chaser every year and since he didn’t make it this year, that answers your question.”
IN ADDITION TO THE TRACK REPAVE, THE PIT LANE HERE HAS BEEN RESURFACED AS WELL. HOW MUCH A DIFFERENCE IS THAT GOING TO MAKE THIS RACE? “It should be much more consistent for us. We’ll have those concrete boxes to get in and out of. You just have to be real careful not to break the rear gear with a lot of traction on that pit box.”
__________________
Rick
Nitro Year: 2007 (1 of 113,000 sold)
Nitro Model: R/T 4X4 Stone White
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NASCAR Qualifying
Last Updated: Saturday, Nov 12, 2011 3:34 pm, EST
Kobalt Tools 500
Field Set Phoenix International Raceway
Order Driver (No.) Car Qualifying Speed 1 Matt Kenseth (17) Ford 137.101
2 A J Allmendinger (43) Ford 136.446
3 Marcos Ambrose (9) Ford 136.307
4 Mark Martin (5) Chevrolet 136.080
5 Martin Truex Jr. (56) Toyota 136.080
6 Jamie McMurray (1) Chevrolet 136.008
7 David Reutimann (00) Toyota 135.988
8 Tony Stewart (14) Chevrolet 135.911
9 Carl Edwards (99) Ford 135.701
10 Kasey Kahne (4) Toyota 135.675
11 Paul Menard (27) Chevrolet 135.609 12 Brad Keselowski (2) Dodge 135.415
13 David Ragan (6) Ford 135.399
14 Jeff Burton (31) Chevrolet 135.298
15 Regan Smith (78) Chevrolet 135.272
16 Jimmie Johnson (48) Chevrolet 135.247 17 Kurt Busch (22) Dodge 135.227
18 Brian Vickers (83) Toyota 135.216
19 Cole Whitt (84) Toyota 135.211 20 Robby Gordon (7) Dodge 135.186
21 Landon Cassill (51) Chevrolet 135.181
22 Dale Earnhardt Jr. (88) Chevrolet 135.166
23 Jeff Gordon (24) Chevrolet 134.887
24 Scott Speed (46) Ford 134.862
25 Joey Logano (20) Toyota 134.852
26 Juan Pablo Montoya (42) Chevrolet 134.811
27 Kevin Harvick (29) Chevrolet 134.756
28 Clint Bowyer (33) Chevrolet 134.574
29 Greg Biffle (16) Ford 134.549
30 Ryan Newman (39) Chevrolet 134.509
31 Bobby Labonte (47) Toyota 134.363
32 Joe Nemechek (87) Toyota 134.143
33 Denny Hamlin (11) Toyota 134.078
34 Kyle Busch (18) Toyota 133.650
35 Michael McDowell (66) Toyota 133.437
36 Mike Skinner (37) Ford 133.220
37 Travis Kvapil (55) Ford 133.136
38 Casey Mears (13) Toyota 133.028
39 Mike Bliss (32) Ford 132.431
40 Geoffrey Bodine (36) Chevrolet 131.305
41 J.J. Yeley (38) Ford 128.981
42 David Gilliland (34) Ford 123.069
43 Dave Blaney (135) Chevrolet 132.563
44 Scott Riggs (123) DNQ 131.694
45 David Stremme (30) DNQ 131.603
46 Andy Lally (71) DNQ 127.592
__________________
Rick
Nitro Year: 2007 (1 of 113,000 sold)
Nitro Model: R/T 4X4 Stone White
CAT-BACK Exhaust, CAI, Projector Head Lamps
Fully-Equipped w/all factory options
Dodge Motorsports Notes & Quotes - NSCS Qualifying - Phoenix 2
November 12, 2011 , AVONDALE, Ariz.
Dodge NSCS Final Qualifying Quotes
Dodge Motorsports PR
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Kobalt Tools 500
Phoenix International Raceway
BRAD KESELOWSKI (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger R/T) Qualified 12th
“That was faster than I thought it was. It’s terrible out there right now, but it’s the same for everybody. I’m happy to pick up, just so hard to tell what’s a good lap and what’s a bad lap right now; really hard to tell.”
YOU WILL HAVE DECENT TRACK POSITION TO START THE RACE. “It’s going to be super-important. It’s going to be one of the hardest races of the year to pass.”
YOU ARE STARTING IN THE OUTSIDE LINE. HOW ARE YOU GOING TO GET TO THE BOTTOM LANE? “I don’t have an answer for that one (smiles). Hopefully it all works out.”
KURT BUSCH (No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T) Qualified 17th
“Just loose in, tight in the center and loose off. We watched Brad make his run up against the pit wall down in Turn 1 and made a small adjustment with the right front air pressure. We were definitely looking for more, but we’ll have to play catch up during the early part of the race.”
ROBBY GORDON (No. 7 SPEED Energy/MAPEI Dodge Charger R/T) Qualified 20th
THAT WAS A RESPECTABLE LAP FOR YOU. “We ran a 25.90 yesterday (smile) and we were on the board there the whole time. I knew we’d be pretty good. When you have to qualify in, you’ve got to be a bit conservative so I was very conservative that first lap and I was still too conservative the second lap.”
HOW MUCH DIFFERENT IS THIS TRACK NOW? “It’s not the same race track anymore. As much as it’s still inside the same walls, it’s a different race track and it’s a handful for sure.”
CAN YOU COMPARE THIS TRACK TO ANY OTHER? “It’s like when we get a new race track, it’s just different. It’s just really crazy when we get a new one.”
__________________
Rick
Nitro Year: 2007 (1 of 113,000 sold)
Nitro Model: R/T 4X4 Stone White
CAT-BACK Exhaust, CAI, Projector Head Lamps
Fully-Equipped w/all factory options
Date: 11/12/2011 - 05:41 PM
Location: Avondale, AZ
Sam Hornish Jr.. lead a Team Penske sweep of Saturday’s Wypall 200 NASCAR Nationwide Series race, the first event contested on the newly configured one-mile Phoenix International Raceway oval surface.
Hornish drove his Penske Dodge to the first Nationwide Series victory of his career, with teammate Brad Keselowski finishing second ahead of the Roush Fenway Racing Ford of Carl Edwards and Joey Logano’s Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
And Ricky Stenhouse Jr. virtually locked up his first series championship, driving the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford to a fifth-place finish, as his main title rival Elliott Sadler was crashed out of the race.
Unofficially, Stenhouse will head to next week’s season-ending Ford 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway with a lead of 41 points.
The race got off to a sketchy start, with an eight-car crash involving Danica Patrick in Turn 3 on the first lap. Up ahead of harm’s way, Aric Almirola started from the pole and dominated the early going.
With warm sunshine, the drivers basically had one fast groove as they wrestled with the low-grip surface.
On Lap 36, Reed Sorenson blew his second right-front tire of the weekend and hit the Turn 3 wall, his car briefly catching fire.
Almirola led the entire first one-third of the race, but on Lap 68, points leader Stenhouse finally managed to duck under him and assume the point.
Seventeen laps later, Stenhouse’s teammate, D.J. Kennington, also blew a right front, as his car, too, caught fire for a few seconds before being extinguished.
Stenhouse continued to hold the lead, but as he did, championship rival Elliott Sadler fell out of the top 10 and back in the field, running 14th by Lap 120. But when Derrike Cope crashed to bring out a caution on Lap 130, Sadler gambled on two tires and rejoined the race in fifth behind Stenhouse, Sam Hornish Jr., Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano.
During this sequence of stops, Almirola’s crew missed a lug nut on the right rear tire, ending his hopes of victory.
On the restart on Lap 138, Stenhouse spun his tires, allowing Hornish to take the lead and Logano to move to second, restarts being a problem most of the year for the points leader.
Just after the green, Steve Wallace triggered a big crash when he turned James Buescher to bring out another caution. Once again, Stenhouse had a bad restart, falling to fourth behind Hornish, Logano and Carl Edwards.
Unfortunately for Sadler, even though he Stenhouse lost the lead, on two tires, Sadler’s car wasn’t very good and once again slid outside the top 10.
Before long, it was a Penske 1-2 as Keselowski moved to second place and with 30 to go, they led Edwards, Logano, Bowyer and Stenhouse, with Sadler 12th.
Then, disaster for Sadler.
Jason Leffler dumped Sadler going into Turn 3 on Lap 176 and took out Almirola and Morgan Shepherd with him.
“The 38 (Leffler) just run right into the back of us,” said Sadler. “Not much respect for guys running for the championship ... It’s very frustrating not going to Homestead with a chance to win this thing.”
“Ultimately, it’s my responsibility,” said Leffler. “ ... It was a mistake on my part. It wasn’t on purpose. ... I was racing Aric and it was all my fault.”
Dodge NSCS Final Race Quotes
Dodge Motorsports PR
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Kobalt Tools 500
Phoenix International Raceway
BRAD KESELOWSKI (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger R/T) Finished 18th
“We had a really good Dodge Charger at the first of the race and felt like we had a car to win it. As the race progressed, just lost the handle on it. Lost a bunch of spots on pit road and I just didn’t execute at the end of the race.”
DID THE GROOVE WIDEN OUT DURING THE RACE? “The track was really, really good actually. I don’t see how anyone can complain about the track. It was a great race. It was a lot of fun, just disappointed we didn’t close it out.”
HOW MUCH DID YOU LEARN TODAY THAT YOU CAN APPLY AT THE NEXT RACE HERE IN FEBRUARY? “Hopefully a lot, but we’ll find out when we come back. You’ve got to have power, you’ve got to handle. It’s everything.”
KURT BUSCH (No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T) Finished 22nd
"What an unbelievable turn of events. We worked our butts off all race trying to get track position and just couldn't cash our ticket in late in the race. We knew that track position and two-tire strategy were going to be keys and it almost paid off for us. Steve (Addington, crew chief) made the great call for two left sides under caution around Lap 220. That got us out front, but we may not have packed the Shell/Pennzoil Dodge full of fuel. We're not exactly sure, but it certainly appears that way.
"I thought for sure that once we got out in clean air after we took the lead that we had a great shot at the win. I knew that we had one more pit stop to make and with track position, I loved our chance to win the race. Steve radioed to pit just as I was coming down the backstretch and within a second or two, I ran out of gas. Just incredible. I made it to the pit box and when we tried to restart the engine, the car wouldn't fire right away. It cost us a lot of time. Worst part is that I had no tachometer, got caught speeding on pit road and had to do a wave through. We went from first to 26th, all in just making a green-flag pit stop. It was just an incredible turn of events. I think we had the car to be in victory lane."
PAUL WOLFE (Crew Chief, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger R/T)
“We qualified fairly well today, got our car pretty good and got up there in the top five and had really good long-run speed. We had good pit stops the first part of the race to keep our track position. A couple times we got shuffled back when we restarted on the outside. On that last stop that really counted, we had a little issue on the right side and ended up losing four or five spots there in the pits. Then, on the restart, he got tangled up with some guys and we just lost all our track position. At that point, it was a battle. Just frustrating because I know we were a better car than an 18th-place car and just weren’t able to put it together at the end when it counted.”
WERE YOU SURPRISED AT HOW WELL TWO-TIRE STOPS WORKED? “Not totally surprised. We knew it was pretty good. We saw it yesterday. It was just one of those deals. It was a matter of how long they would fall off at the end once we got 150 laps on ‘em. Initially, it didn’t seem to be a big deal. Like I said, a frustrating day for us, but we did gain some points on the 17 (Matt Kenseth). We moved up one spot going into the last race, so hopefully we can keep this thing in the top five.”
ROBBY GORDON (No. 7 SPEED Energy/MAPEI Dodge Charger R/T)
“We struggled to pass. I think everybody struggles to pass and I drove down onto the apron, a lot like (Elliott) Sadler did yesterday, and soon as I got back up to the main groove, it got loose on me. It’s a bummer. It was a brand new Dodge Charger and now it’s probably going to need a front and rear clip on it. That was a good race car. Guys did a good job all weekend long and unfortunately we find ourselves with another wrecked race car, which it doesn’t really matter. If you can’t stay on the lead lap, it doesn’t make any sense to race. That’s just my opinion.”
DID YOU LEARN ANYTHING TODAY THAT WILL HELP YOU MOVING FORWARD INTO NEXT SEASON? “I learned you need to bring the best race cars that you’ve got every single weekend and it just takes money and right now, we don’t have enough of that.”
__________________
Rick
Nitro Year: 2007 (1 of 113,000 sold)
Nitro Model: R/T 4X4 Stone White
CAT-BACK Exhaust, CAI, Projector Head Lamps
Fully-Equipped w/all factory options
CUP: Fueling Error Costs Kurt Busch Shot At Win
Penske driver led 57 consecutive laps late in the race but wound up a lap down…
November 13, 2011 Avondale, AZ
Kurt Busch almost stole some thunder from Chase challengers Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart in the Kobalt Tools 500 Sunday.
Busch recovered from an early-race bobble to storm to the front in the second half of the race, leading 57 consecutive laps before running out of fuel.
That error cost Busch a long pit stop, and he was nailed by NASCAR for speeding as he returned to the track. The bottom line was a 22nd-place finish – one lap down – on a day in which Busch was second on the lap-leader list to Tony Stewart (with 160).
“I thought for sure that once we got out in clean air after we took the lead that we had a great shot at the win,” Busch said. “I knew that we had one more pit stop to make and, with track position, I loved our chance to win the race.
“Steve (crew chief Steve Addington) radioed to pit just as I was coming down the backstretch and, within a second or two, I ran out of gas. Just incredible. I made it to the pit box, and when we tried to restart the engine, the car wouldn't fire right away. It cost us a lot of time.
“Worst part is that I had no tachometer, got caught speeding on pit road and had to do a wave-through. We went from first to 26th, all in just making a green-flag pit stop. It was just an incredible turn of events. I think we had the car to be in victory lane."
Busch, Addington, team owner Roger Penske and other Penske Racing officials had a meeting about the race events after the checkered flag in Penske’s motorcoach.
Busch said the Dodge apparently wasn’t filled with fuel on the pit stop previous to his problems.
“What an unbelievable turn of events,” he said. “We worked our butts off all race trying to get track position and just couldn't cash our ticket in late in the race.
“We knew that track position and two-tire strategy were going to be keys, and it almost paid off for us. Steve made the great call for two left sides under caution around lap 220. That got us out front, but we may not have packed the Shell/Pennzoil Dodge full of fuel. We're not exactly sure, but it certainly appears that way.”
Busch led laps 222 to 278 before running out of fuel.
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