HAMPTON, GA – September 2, 2013 – As the excitement builds in anticipation of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Kurt Busch made some bold moves in his No. 78 Furniture Row/Beautyrest Chevrolet SS to rally from a 32nd place starting spot to fourth place overall in the Advocare 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It marked his seventh top five and 12th top-10 finish of the season, to date. Busch moved up two positions in the point standings and now ranks 10th overall.
Behind the wheel of his No. 39 Aspen Dental Chevrolet SS, Ryan Newman came away in fifth place and recorded his fifth top-five finish this year. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver moved up one place in the point order, keeping his Chase hopes alive with a Chase Wild Card berth in sight.
Other top 10 Team Chevy finishers under the lights at Atlanta: Jeff Gordon, No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevy SS – sixth, Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 42 Target Chevrolet SS – seventh, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., No. 88 National Guard/Race to Achieve.org Chevrolet SS – eighth, and Kevin Harvick, No. 29 Jimmy Johns Chevrolet SS – ninth.
Harvick has now secured enough points to clinch a spot in the Chase. And, on the strength of two wins in 2013, Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 5 Farmers Insurance Chevy SS has earned a ‘Chase Wild Card’ spot.
Five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson who was involved in an early multi-car accident in his No. 48 Lowe’s Dover White Chevy SS, finished 28th in the 500-mile race. Johnson maintained his point lead in the current standings with a 28-point advantage over second place.
Kyle Busch (Toyota) was the race winner, Joey Logano (Ford) was second, and Martin Truex, Jr. (Toyota) was third to round out the top five.
The next race on the tour, and final race to the Chase is September 7th at Richmond International Raceway.
KURT BUSCH, NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW RACING/BEAUTYREST CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED FOURTH
TALK ABOUT THAT RESTART WHERE YOU PASSED WHAT SEEMED LIKE HALF THE FIELD:
“The inside lane was definitely the preferred lane on restarts and I didn’t realize how bad the outside was until I got to try it on the outside of Kyle (Busch). And I could not get any power down up there. And on the inside, it’s like you’ve got all the power you can just put it to the floor and go. And inside versus outside was a tremendous difference. The seas parted for me and we went from 11th to second and we were able to hold on to fourth. We weren’t a top 5 car tonight, but our restarts, that one was great and the other ones were sub-par. So, it was just a battle, just a battle all night. The car was not a great car. We missed it, but we’ll take it.”
RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 ASPEN DENTAL CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED FIFTH
WHAT WAS YOUR CONVERSATION WITH KURT BUSCH AFTER THE RACE?
“Oh, I just told him I’m glad I’m not the only one that can’t restart on the outside there. I don’t know what the deal is but there’s no grip on the straightaway. I don’t know if it’s rubber on the race track or what, but you did not want to be on the outside on a restart. And I was and he wasn’t and it didn’t work for either of us.”
JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED SIXTH
A GOOD NIGHT TONIGHT, BUT YOU ARE JUST OUTSIDE THE TOP TEN IN POINTS, HOW DO YOU LOOK AT THINGS GOING INTO NEXT WEEK?
“Well, I am more focused on tonight right now you know. We had an excellent Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet SS and it just got away from us a little bit. You know, the track changed quite a bit and we just couldn’t battle up front there for the lead and for the win like I thought we could have. Little disappointed in that, but a great effort by the team all weekend long and we will take the momentum of these last two decent finishes, solid runs, and fast race cars and take it to Richmond and see what we can do.”
GOOD LUCK NEXT WEEK:
“Yeah, I am having fun. These last couple weeks we have been battling and passing and having a great time out there and that is all we can ask for. We didn’t do enough of that earlier in the year and that is why we are in the position we are in.”
TALK ABOUT GOING INTO RICHMOND:
“We are going to have to just perform at a high level. I don’t even know the points. Yeah, but our position doesn’t mean anything to me, it’s who we are racing and who we are going to go battle and really most of it is just us doing what we have to do. Just like we have done the last two weeks we have done a good job, but we can do better. In Richmond I think we are probably going to have to do better, but we do have a shot.”
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED SEVENTH
ON HIS RACE:
“It was a good night for the Target team. We had some trouble keeping up with the changing track conditions during the first half of the race, but the guys made great changes and the car was good at the end. Happy that we were able to bring home another top-10 finish for Target tonight.”
DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/RACE2ACHIEVE.ORG CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED EIGHTH
ON HIS RUN:
“I was real thankful the car was as good as it was. We have struggled here and not ran great here the last several trips. It’s so hard and it’s such a struggle to get a car that has a good balance and we did. The car had great speed at the end of the race; we just got restarted in the wrong lane a couple of times and lost some spots there. All in all I’m real pleased with the way the car performed and the job the guys did.”
KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 JIMMY JOHN’S CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED NINTH
YOU HAD A TOP 10 RUN TONIGHT AND ALSO CLINCHED A SPOT IN THE CHASE. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT?
“Obviously we’re happy to be in the Chase. Our day wasn’t very good. Our car was just terribly tight all night long and drove nothing like it did in practice. We’ll work on that and try to figure that out. But all in all, it’s been an okay season so far and obviously you want to put yourself in position to race for the championship and everybody has done a good job doing that. So, we’ll go to Richmond next week and try to win another race. I come to this race track expecting to have a chance to win the race and we were off all night.”
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