Friday, Sept. 2, 2011
Dodge Motorsports PR
Atlanta Motor Speedway
AdvoCare 500
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Kurt Busch Open Interview
KURT BUSCH (No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T): YOU ARE EIGHTH IN POINTS, HAVE ONE WIN THIS SEASON, AND COMING TO A TRACK WHERE YOU HAVE A LOT OF SUCCESS. TALK ABOUT HOW ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY ADAPTS TO YOUR DRIVING STYLE. “This is one of the fun racetracks that all the drivers look forward coming to, not that we don’t look forward to going to all of ’em, but Atlanta, with the old surface, as much as you slide around on the racetrack, as much as pit strategy is always an interesting call, this race really keeps you on your toes. And so a full 500 miles here is a tough chore and I’ve been able to win three races here, a couple during a spring and one in the fall that was actually rain-delayed and actually finished under the lights at night. It’s really a challenging track to keep up with and for us here in Atlanta it’s nice to be close to the Coca-Cola headquarters. Had a nice ride and drive program with them yesterday as well as a wonderful dinner last night with some of the top executives to just show the support for all the Coca-Cola does for us on the track and how we’re able to get their brand out there up in the forefront. But again, it’s Labor Day weekend. It’s a great weekend for all the families to come out and enjoy the track with this being really the last official weekend of summer. Hopefully we’ll get a lot of our young fans here out at the track before they have to go back to school.”
CONCERNING THE FUTURE INVOLVEMENT OF DODGE AND THE CHRYSLER GROUP IN NASCAR UNDER THE OWNERSHIP OF THE EUROPEAN FIAT AUTO GROUP, DID YOU HAVE THE POSSIBILITY TO TALK TO THE TOP GUY AND WHAT WAS HIS REACTION TO THE NASCAR PROGRAM? “Well knowing their involvement with Formula 1 it still gives us a good sense to know that they are going to be committed behind the NASCAR program. From what I understand our contract is going into many years from now. But with Ralph Gilles and Brain Viger, the top executives at Dodge, they are always there for support with what we’re doing on the technology-side, what we’re doing to advance the program. Whether its engines, whether its tires I feel like we get the adequate support from Dodge and its been great for us at Penske Racing to carry the banner as the lone Dodge team out on the track and we’re doing very well with multiple race wins on the Nationwide and on the Cup side and it’s just a continued support effort from both sides being so close to each other ’cause we’re the only ones out there. We have to continue pushing hard. With [Sergio] Marchionne, I would say with his involvement, Fiat, and with their Ferrari involvement in F1 that this should only play out for us in our favor.”
IN THE RACE THAT YOU WON HERE AT NIGHT, YOU SCRAPED THE WALL ABOUT FOUR TIMES AND THAT WAS PART OF IT. THAT WAS PART OF WINNING THE RACE AND NOT BEING AFRAID TO DO THAT. COMMENT ON HOW THIS TRACK AND A HOT NIGHT RACE SEPARATES THE DRIVERS WHO DON’T MIND BEING SIDEWAYS FROM THE MORE METHODICAL DRIVERS? TONY STEWART IS USUALLY GOOD ON HOT, SLICK TRACKS. WILL HE BE COMPETITION AS A DRIVER WHO DOESN’T MIND SCRAPING THE WALL? “I believe so. I think it gets back to some of the dirt track heritage some of the drivers have. A guy like Tony Stewart that knows what a dry, slick racetrack is, he’ll get out there and put that right rear tire up on the edge of the cushion and haze that tire. You don’t do that too often with the Cup cars because it just abuses the tire but the overall feel of driving the car elbows out and just letting all the rough edges drag, that’s what Atlanta is with the old surface. Then you add in the hot extreme temperatures really adds to the excitement behind the wheel. Even a guy like Kasey Kahne who’s won here before; Carl Edwards, a dirt tracker from the Midwest, you see that come into play here with this surface.”
TO CLARIFY, YOU WILL BE AT THE WHITE HOUSE NEXT WEEK, CORRECT? “Yes, yes, I will be at the White House. I heard there was a nice article written that I was part of the group that wasn’t going. All along it was my intention to go and we just had to clear up a scheduling issue. But a lot of people write about non-related racing things sometimes. We’ll be there next Wednesday. I mean, who would turn down the opportunity to go to the White House? For me it’s an honor, it’s a privilege and I’ve had the chance to meet Bush and Obama in the past. To be a Chase driver and to go to the White House it’s an important visit ’cause I might not make the Chase every year and I’ll miss out on those opportunities.”
DO YOU THINK TOO MUCH IS MADE OF THOSE WHO HAVE SCHEDULING DIFFICULTIES AND CAN’T MAKE IT? “It’s everybody’s personal schedule that has to be adjusted when somebody like that makes a phone call and for me obviously that’s the right choice. We had to push around the 2012 official photo shoot for next season with all of the merchandise, all of the marketing; all of the campaign that we put together that has to be released in January. We have to get that done by the end of September to not be too far behind for when Daytona starts. Everybody has these types of schedules. The week after Richmond is now booked solid from NASCAR with media where I’ve got to go to Miami. Some drivers have to go all the way out to Phoenix; some drivers have to go up to Loudon, New Hampshire. They want a driver that’s in the Chase to go to each of the Chase markets we’re going to. Then you go to the week after Chicago [and] we’re already scheduled through there. It’s tough, busy schedules for everybody.”
WE’VE ALL TAKEN NOTICE OF WHAT YOUR TEAMMATE BRAD KESELOWSKI HAS DONE OVER THE LAST FOUR WEEKS AND ONE THING THAT STANDS OUT IS IN THE LAST FOUR WEEKS HE HAS NOT RUN ANY NATIONWIDE RACES. YOU OCCASIONALLY RUN IN THE NATIONWIDE SERIES. IS THERE A CORRELATION BETWEEN HIS SUCCESS AND THE ABILITY TO FOCUS MORE ON THAT CUP CAR? “That’s where all along I thought he could do better once he focused more on the Cup car. It’s tough as a new driver coming in to gain the experience that you need on track and yes, he needed to do that for the first step. The second step, win that Nationwide championship. He did that. Third step, now we’ve got to get the Cup car as the primary focus and gel with his new crew chief Paul Wolfe. He’s done that now. Is it a coincidence that it happened here in these last few weeks? Personal injury to anybody makes everybody evaluate where they are. They have a lot of time to sit at home for rehab and he’s done that but it’s just clicked. It’s been great to watch and it’s been inspiring for myself and Steve Addington to know hey, the stuff’s right there. We just need to be on the front side of the eight-ball and not on the backside of the eight-ball with some of the things that we’ve positioned ourselves with on the 22 car. But for him not to run Nationwide I think the Cup focus is there and it’s great to see. I guess he’s locked in the Chase. Now he’s got to do that. He’s got to run hard in this Chase to be a championship contender.”
YOUR TEAMMATE CAN TAKE HOME A MILLION DOLLARS IF HE WINS HERE SUNDAY NIGHT. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE CAR THAT YOU USED TO DRIVE POSSIBLY BAGGING A MILLION AND WHAT HAS THE BUZZ BEEN LIKE AT THE PENSKE SHOP OVER THAT POSSIBILITY WITH THOSE GUYS WALKING AWAY A MILLION DOLLARS RICHER? “It’s been great. If it comes down to me and Brad running 1-2 at the end I’m going to have to scratch my head a little bit. Maybe I should make a deal before hand to get a certain percentage. But really it’s a great promotional program from Sprint to have the Sprint Summer Showdown and to have drivers involved and just to be them, that one group. It reminds you of the old-school days of the No Bull that Winston would put up and have a group of five drivers eligible to win a million bucks, million dollars for a fan, and what’s unique is that a charity is going to win a million dollars out of this as well. So I’m disappointed that we weren’t part of it but it’s exciting to see Brad part of it and those guys at the shop are definitely pumped. And Miller Lite, with the excitement recently, those guys I know are very excited about the attention that the 2 car is getting.”
