{"id":4832,"date":"2011-04-14T06:32:21","date_gmt":"2011-04-14T11:32:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/?p=9076"},"modified":"2011-04-13T21:33:49","modified_gmt":"2011-04-14T02:33:49","slug":"kurt-busch-ready-shot-points-plate-race-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/2011\/04\/kurt-busch-ready-shot-points-plate-race-win\/","title":{"rendered":"KURT BUSCH READY FOR ANOTHER SHOT AT POINTS PLATE RACE WIN"},"content":{"rendered":"

KURT BUSCH READY FOR ANOTHER SHOT AT POINTS PLATE RACE WIN
\n-No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil\/AAA Dodge Driver Has Anticipated Talladega Since Successful Daytona Races-<\/strong><\/p>\n

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Shell-Pennzoil\/AAA Dodge driver Kurt Busch has been counting down the days for this weekend\u2019s Aaron\u2019s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway ever since Feb. 20. That was the day he was in the hunt to win the 53rd annual Daytona 500 until the final lap. In the final race of what was a super successful Speed Weeks 2011, the 2004 NASCAR Sprint Cup Champ had to settle for a fifth-place finish and leave Daytona still in quest of his first points-paying restrictor-plate race win.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had won the Budweiser Shootout and won our Thursday qualifying race so we had so much confidence and momentum rolling into the Daytona 500,\u201d said Busch, who will start his 42nd Sprint Cup plate race at Talladega on Sunday still looking for that elusive victory. \u201cThe 500 is our Super Bowl and all the hype was crazy around our Shell-Pennzoil Dodge Team. No team had ever claimed all three Cup race winner\u2019s trophies in a single Speed Weeks. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a race,\u201d Busch said of this year\u2019s Daytona 500. \u201cOn that last lap, I just needed to stay on the bottom of the track and it just didn\u2019t seem like (Juan Pablo) Montoya could stay together and get enough steam built up on the run. I was in perfect position to win the race; running third and just made a mistake. It was tough. We came all that way and couldn\u2019t finish it off. We had to settle for a fifth-place finish, put it behind us and realize what the day meant from a big-picture perspective.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the dust had settled back on that day, I almost immediately looked at the schedule and circled April 17 \u2013 the date of this weekend\u2019s race at Talladega Superspeedway \u2013 and my next opportunity to win a plate race,\u201d said Busch, who is zero for 20 in Talladega Cup competition entering this weekend. \u201cI mean, yes, we did win a plate race at Daytona; two of them as a matter of fact. So they can\u2019t say that we\u2019ve never won the Bud Shootout and they can\u2019t say that we\u2019ve never won a 150-mile qualifying race. But what they can say is that we still haven\u2019t been able to come home the winner in a points-paying Cup plate race.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis could be our weekend to finally get that elusive win; I really have a great feeling about our chances,\u201d said Busch. \u201cI\u2019ve been asked so many times since Daytona about what I expect to see at Talladega this weekend. We’re going to see that same style draft. The two-car draft is just so potent. I mean, anytime you can tell a race car driver he can go four seconds faster a lap and give him the recipe on how to do it, he’s going to go and put it into play, that’s that two-car draft.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe worked real well with Regan Smith at Daytona and that could be a strong option that we look at and consider this weekend. We\u2019ll certainly be looking for more opportunities with Brad Keselowski, my Dodge teammate and anyone else. You want to learn how their car drafts with yours, vice versa, that way you’re best prepared for Sunday’s event. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo, that\u2019s our plan of attack for this weekend,\u201d said Busch. \u201cWe\u2019ll get out there on Friday and see who we can hook up with and run well with. If you remember, there were several other guys out there who we\u2019d planned to try to partner with, but the various circumstances prevented it.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, we have high expectations for this weekend at Talladega, that\u2019s for sure. Hopefully we can get down there and get the ball rolling on Friday, get us a good spot on pit road with a respectable qualifying run on Saturday and finally close the deal there on Sunday afternoon.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Busch has yet to win a Cup race at Talladega, he did take the checkers in the April 2003 IROC race there and he finished third in his very first Talladega Cup race back on April 22, 2001. In his 20 prior Cup races at Talladega, Busch has recorded six top-five finishes and 13 top-10s. He has a 20.7 average start and a 13.7 average finish. He has been running at the finish in 17 races and has finished on the lead lap in 14 of those races.<\/p>\n

Busch, fifth in points, has the best average finish (13.7) of any of the drivers currently among the top-12 in the Sprint Cup standings. Points-leader Carl Edwards has a 22.1 average finish in 13 races; second-place Kyle Busch has a 23.3 average in 12 races; third-place Matt Kenseth has an 18.6 average in 22 races and fourth-place Jimmie Johnson has a 17.2 average in 18 races. Sixth-place Dale Earnhardt Jr. has a 15.1 average (in 22 races), seventh-place Ryan Newman has a 20.6 (in 18 races); eighth-place Juan Pablo Montoya has a 14.8 (in eight races); ninth-place Kevin Harvick has a 14.8 (in 20 races); 10th-place Tony Stewart has a 15.5 (in 24 races); 11th-place Paul Menard has a 24.9 (in nine races) and 12th-place Clint Bowyer has a 19.4 (in 10 races).<\/p>\n

What is Busch\u2019s \u201csecret\u201d to being such a consistent frontrunner in the restrictor-plate races?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m one that doesn\u2019t take a lot of chances and more times than not plays it more defensively than on the offense,\u201d Busch said. \u201cI think that\u2019s been my mentality over the years. The times that I\u2019ve been too aggressive out there and tried to make big bold moves, I wound up wrecked or getting shuffled out at the end and it didn\u2019t turn out well. Over the years, I\u2019ve just been one who tried to follow suit and not make the mistakes at the end with being too aggressive. I think that the biggest thing I always have going for me is that I truly enjoy the plate races. I think for sure that I am in the minority when I say that. I know how much the fans love it. I know it\u2019s hard for most people to understand, but the more I\u2019m right in the middle of the lead pack, the more comfortable I am in the car. I feel like I learn something each time I\u2019m in that position, especially how to survive it and get a good finish out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

This weekend\u2019s NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule at Talladega Superspeedway gets under way with Friday\u2019s opening practice from 1:00 p.m. till 1:45 p.m. The final session of Sprint Cup practice is set to run on Friday from 2:30 p.m. till 3:30 p.m. Coors Light Pole Award qualifying to establish the starting grid for Sunday\u2019s 43-car starting field is scheduled to begin at 10:35 a.m. on Saturday. Sunday\u2019s Aaron\u2019s 499 (188 laps, 500.08 miles) has a 12:00 noon CDT starting time and features live coverage by FOX-TV and MRN Radio.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KURT BUSCH READY FOR ANOTHER SHOT AT POINTS PLATE RACE WIN -No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil\/AAA Dodge Driver Has Anticipated Talladega Since Successful Daytona Races- TALLADEGA, Ala. — Shell-Pennzoil\/AAA Dodge driver Kurt Busch has been counting down the days for this weekend\u2019s Aaron\u2019s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway ever since Feb. 20. That was the day he was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[15775],"class_list":["post-4832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nascar","tag-nascar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4832\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}