Friday, Oct. 7, 2011
Dodge Motorsports PR
Kansas Speedway
Hollywood Casino 400
Kurt Busch Open Interview
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
KURT BUSCH (No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T) ONLY 19 POINTS SEPARATE THE LEADERS IN THE CHASE? ARE YOU HAPPY WITH THE POINTS SYSTEM? “Yeah, things are close. With the way that the points are with the old system, a nine point lead would be like a 40 point lead.”
YOU’RE A BIG BASEBALL FAN. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE ALCS MATCH-UP BETWEEN THE DETROIT TIGERS AND THE TEXAS RANGERS? “I was really happy that the Tigers won. I’m not much of a Yankee fan. The Tigers really went out there and poured it on last night. It was great to watch. With them matched-up against the Rangers, the Rangers have been that quiet team. A lot of west coast teams are always quiet because you don’t get that big time east coast coverage.”
DO YOU FEEL THAT YOUR TEAM HAD ANY MORE OF A POP AT THE PHOENIX TEST AFTER YOUR WIN ON SUNDAY AT DOVER? “We’re good at understanding handling Sundays, Mondays. Once you get to Tuesday it’s next week. So we had a great test at Phoenix with what we needed to do as a team. These guys know that we’re in position and we’re capable of going the long haul with this Chase.”
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE NEW TRACK SURFACE AT PHOENIX? “It’s slick and it’s right on-edge when you’re fast but if you mess up just a little bit, you lose almost half-a-second a lap. It’s going to come down to that final restart. If you’re on the inside you’re going to be smiling. If you’re on the outside you’re not going to be smiling.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT RON HORNADAY EARNING HIS 50TH TRUCK WIN? “It’s incredible. I watched Ron Hornaday when I was a kid on the west coast and he was running the Southwest Tour races. When the tour came to town it was Ron winning races up front. This was in the early ‘90’s. He’s been an incredible man to watch race growing up on the west coast.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT CHARLOTTE NEXT WEEKEND. THE TEMPERATURE WILL BE COOL. HOW WILL THAT AFFECT THE RACING? “When it’s cool at Charlotte it’s like qualifying every lap. That place is fast.”
YOU HAVE A NICE STRETCH OF RACES COMING UP THAT YOU’RE VERY GOOD AT: “This is our good time in the Chase right now. We’ll try to get Kansas and Charlotte, these mile-and-a-halves with a good finish. I’m looking forward to the next two weeks.”
