Kansas: Kyle Busch NASCAR Nextel Cup Race Preview
CUT TO THE CHASE: With a fifth-place finish at Dover, Del., Kyle Busch and the No. 5 Kellogg's/CARQUEST team are now fourth in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series championship standings. Moving up one spot from last week, the team has also closed the gap to a mere 10 points behind current leader Jeff Gordon. Kyle Busch's position is a marked improvement over last year, when he was 10th overall, 224 points out of first place, heading into the third Chase race.
CARQUEST'S HONORARY CREW MEMBER: Team sponsor CARQUEST has extended a special invitation to Kevin Schenkler from Dale City, Va., to assist the No. 5 team as an honorary crew member for the Kansas Speedway race this weekend. Schenkler, the store manager at Merchants Tire in Woodbridge, Va., received the honorary position as the store manager who showed the greatest improvement in CARQUEST purchases and sales for the month of August.
Kyle Busch STAYING BUSY: Contending for the NEXTEL Cup championship will not slow Kyle Busch through the month of October as his calendar is spilling over with additional racing. He will pull double duty in the Cup and the Craftsman Truck Series races at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, Martinsville (Va.) Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway. Kyle Busch will also compete in the Kyle Busch Series at Lowe's Motor Speedway, where he has scored two career wins.
CAR SELECTION FOR KANSAS: Crew chief Alan Gustafson has selected Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 412 as the primary Monte Carlo SS for this weekend's NEXTEL Cup race at Kansas Speedway. The car finished ninth earlier this season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and led laps at Lowe's Motor Speedway before being involved in an accident.
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Kyle Busch, DRIVER OF THE NO. 5 CARQUEST/KELLOGG'S MONTE CARLO SS: (ON THE SIMILARITIES BETWEEN CHICAGOLAND AND KANSAS.) "Kansas and Chicago are practically identical. I've never seen two race tracks that were made so similarly. The only differences are that Kansas is a little bit flatter, narrower and it says 'Kansas Speedway' on the soft walls."
Kyle Busch: (ON RUNNING WELL AT KANSAS LAST YEAR.) "Last year at Kansas we ran in the top five much of the day and led a lot of laps. Jimmie (Johnson) found something there at the end and we faded a bit so we finished seventh. This year, we finished 13th at Chicago, but ran well throughout the race until I scraped the turn four wall, so I think we should have a decent shot at a good finish this weekend."
Kyle Busch: (ON THE STRESS OF THE CHASE.) "It's stressful, there's no doubt about it. I try to keep my mind off of things by playing with my dogs and starting the Monday Night Football parties back up at my house with guys on my team. We play cards and watch the game every Monday night and it's a good break from the pressure. So far this season I have also been fortunate enough to make it to two NFL games, so I'm hoping to make it to another one before the season is over. The pressure is there, I try not to think about it, but it's hard."
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ALAN GUSTAFSON, CREW CHIEF OF THE NO. 5 CARQUEST/KELLOGG'S MONTE CARLO SS: (ON TWO TOP FIVES IN THE CHASE SO FAR.) "I did a little research and two out of the past three NEXTEL Cup champions have had an average finish in the Chase of eighth. So far, we've had an average finish of 4.5 and I think being 10 points out of first at this point is a great start. It seemed like everyone had issues at Dover. Thankfully, we persevered and finished well. Every lap of every race counts."
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