Q. I don’t know how you feel about the way the sport seems to be moving, it’s kind of like not officially super teams, but you wind up with these teams with lots of really, really good drivers and lots of data to choose from. Is that a good thing for NASCAR? I don’t know. How do you see that?
KURT BUSCH: Well, every driver is out there to position himself to win. Crew Chiefs are the same way. Owners, sponsors, and sometimes the cream rises to the top. It’s just a matter of finding the right combination.
I feel like at Penske Racing we have the greatest ability to do the best thing for Dodge. As well as this is the best situation for me in this family atmosphere at Penske Racing where we can go out there, win races and make sure that we get the exposure level for Miller Lite, Dodge, Mobil 1, all of our great sponsors, because they want to be teamed up with winners as well as I do.
Q. How is 2004 different from 2009 when you won the championship? We know there are some issues with Dodge coming back possibly next year. Your thoughts on 2004 when you won the championship and now in 2009?
KURT BUSCH: Well, I feel like we’re off to a very similar start. Except that we didn’t win at New Hampshire and bumped ourselves up to the first two or three spots in points. We find ourselves 5th with three very good runs. The 6th, 5th and 11th, if you add those together and divide them by three, that puts us around 7 and a half for our average finish. We find ourselves fifth in points.
Well, the game seems to have picked up a little bit. You have to run better than a 7th place average finish if you want to find yourself in contention. So we’re going to have to bump this up and try to get our Miller Lite Dodge in victory lane in the next upcoming weeks to see what we can do to balance out the strong start from everybody else.
Q. How many mulligans do you get when you’re racing in this? I mean, this is high pressure. This is for the championship. You know, you’ve been there before. How many mulligans do you get in the championship Chase before you’re knocked out?
KURT BUSCH: It just depends if other guys use theirs or not. If they’re going to still continue to post Top 10 finishes, there is no way you’ll have the ability to have a bad day and make it up in bonus points or in wins. Consistency still plays the most vital role.
Q. Wanted to ask you, first off, in your career you’ve had two veteran crew Chiefs in Jimmy Fennig and Pat Tryson, guys who have been around for a while. Now as you’ve gained that experience in this sport and I’m not going to call you an elder statesman, but you’ve been around for a while and know how things go. As you look to your new crew chief, could you see yourself with a younger guy, more engineering based as opposed to the mechanical sense of a Pat or Jimmy? Or do you feel like what you’ve had in the past with those two primaries, that’s kind of the path that you feel most comfortable with?
KURT BUSCH: Yeah, it’s definitely wide open right now. With having a veteran type car guy, having a new engineering minded and based type of individual. It’s one that can balance both worlds. Who knows how it will shake out. For us we’re focused on this 2009 Chase.
Once we find ourselves out of position, which we hope we don’t, then we’ll look down that chapter. But for me, the ability to work with anybody, I think, it’s always been my strong point. We do have to find the right guy to put into this position because there’s such a high demand for us to do well, and we don’t want to take too much time having to crawl up to speed.
Q. Also wanted to ask you about qualifying in your years in the sport. Is the emphasis on qualifying increased or decreased over the years? And if there is a value, what is the value in qualifying with the length of these races these days?
KURT BUSCH: Well, it hasn’t increased or decreased as far as its importance. It’s still on my mind, on a scale of 1 to 10, it’s a six. It’s significantly important to qualify well. And that range can jump up at different tracks. At a road course, you want to qualify really, really well. And at a Super Speedway, it doesn’t matter where you qualify.
So I think it’s just based on off of which racetrack. And of course during the Chase you want to be up towards the front to get those five points for leading a lap as well as having a better pit box selection.
Q. What about Martinsville? Where does it rank for you?
KURT BUSCH: Martinsville ranks fairly high. I would give it an 8 out of 10 on its importance. It is so difficult to pass. We’re going to have double file restart this is time. Who knows if the outside will even be worthy of driving around on on the outside with all the rubber build up. So Martinsville is going to be even more of a wildcard this time.
Q. If I’m not mistaken, you’re running that new Dodge engine. Now I don’t want to take anything away from your pit crew, but what makes that engine so much faster? So much better?
KURT BUSCH: We’ve found some of the new motors and new programs to have more potential down the longer line. So the new R 6 is fast. But it also gives us the ability to run more tape on the front of the car, which gives us more front down force because it runs a little cooler.
So a little cooler running engine, as well as just the ability to be able to have more potential in a motor long term is why we made the switch.
Q. Is it me or do you feel it seems like also you guys can come out of the hole faster on the drop of the green flag?
KURT BUSCH: Well, it definitely gave us a bit of a power gain. But I would call that equivalent to the rest of the competition with them gaining their power as well. It’s not that we have a superior advantage. We’re just keeping pace with the rest.
Q. Chrysler Group announced some changes in leadership yesterday. Mike Accavitti has resigned. And there is a new CEO of the Dodge car brand, Ralph, and I don’t know how to pronounce his last name, it’s either Gilles or Gilles. Have you talked to him at all?
KURT BUSCH: I haven’t met Ralph. But I do know that this has changed hands, and that this in the short term won’t affect the motor racing program for Dodge. I do enjoy the support they gave us, and they’re fully committed they fully know about the details behind the scenes.
One thing I’ve gathered from Ralph is he is an avid car enthusiast. He spends time at the track and goes go carting and likes Formula 1 racing. So it’s up to us to carry the NASCAR banner through these tough times.
Q. There’s been some talk recently about Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski kind of going back and forth, maybe, because they’re involved in Twittering and on Facebook. I’m not sure which. In this day and age how important or is it important for NASCAR drivers to reach out to fans and sponsors through these type of social networking sites on the web, and is it something you do?
KURT BUSCH: These social networking as you call it devices are really getting into so much detail it can leave you vulnerable. That’s why I don’t participate in it. I don’t think it’s necessary.
I think there are plenty of avenues for media exposure, not only for myself but for Miller Lite, for Dodge, for Penske Racing. To still continue to do things in a fashion that won’t leave you vulnerable for certain types of situations that can arise from this Facebook or Twitter or what have you.
Q. Do you know does Kyle participate in any of this?
KURT BUSCH: I don’t know.
Q. You guys always want to win, but just being in the Chase is a great achievement, too. Can you describe going into a typical race day knowing that you’re still in the hunt for the championship? And how important is it the overall effect of being a chase contender on your resume?
KURT BUSCH: It’s definitely an accomplishment to make the Chase. Once you realize you have a shot at the championship, which hopefully happens right away, you’ve got ten weeks that you have to be at your very best, and you don’t want small little things taking away potential points each and every week.
So there is that playoff atmosphere. Like when Major League Baseball’s about ready to fire up, when the NFL goes into their final weeks, the NASCAR has the Chase. And each and every week is very important.
Such as at Kansas this past race week, I finished 11th. There were nine chase drivers in front of me, which, that’s not a good day. An 11th place finish is okay, but it’s not good when that many Chase guys are finishing in front of you.
So the atmosphere is very intense. It’s nail biting. It is definitely a pressure cooker situation, and that’s why these 12 drivers are the best for this season because they have a shot at the championship.
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