Q&A: Kurt Busch.

Thursday, 2nd February 2006

Kurt Busch shrugged off his impending court appearance in Phoenix by posting the quickest time in Wednesday afternoon’s final practice session at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway that placed him and his #2 Penske Racing team among the top five overall from nearly 50 teams to have posted a time during the three day test.

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“When you look at it, does Dodge have a problem because they're always on top of the speed charts? Well, they just never end up on the top of the speed charts when it counts and that's at the end of the race. That's why there's a movement to look at the '04 car.”

Q
IS THERE A FEELING OF WANTING TO PROVE YOURSELF WITH A NEW TEAM?

KB
“I'm just happy to be here, to get a fresh start and move forward with what Penske Racing can offer me. The chance to drive the Miller Lite Dodge is an opportunity of a lifetime, and I'm challenging myself to model myself after Rusty Wallace, a legendary champion, a great spokesman for his sponsors, a guy that can go out and get into the market place and reach the fans. That's my No. 1 objective this year, to be able to show the fans I have that drive to go out there and do those creative things to create opportunities for fans to meet me. I want to go and meet the fans.”

Q
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED ABOUT CREW CHIEF ROY McCAULEY?

KB
“It's tough for me to go down this path and say he's done this and this and this so much more differently. Jimmy Fennig was probably the best crew chief I've ever worked with and Roy McCauley is going to be that guy again. He's just got a different approach. Fennig is an old school veteran. He knows how it's done. Don't worry, don't ask him a question, he'll get it done.

Roy McCauley is a guy that has this engineering background of open wheel cars blending it into stock cars. It's just a different approach. I can relate Roy into a very energetic, enthusiastic crew chief that has all his bases covered. He's lacking experience, but he's covering lack of experience by the depth of knowledge he has about racecars and conducting people in a manner to run a race team. To have a two-day test in Vegas, one day committed to the '05-'04 challenge and then today we're moving forward on our '04 car. We chose our best car.

“We're moving forward in that direction this morning. This afternoon he's got programmes set for us on how we can obtain speed in qualifying. We'll go to Kentucky next week and finish up with a few details, and we should be ready to rip for the downforce season when we go to California after the Daytona 500. Great crew chief, nicknamed Cannonball because when he runs around he makes some damage happen. He might look like a Cannonball, too.”