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Riding with Kurt: Leaving Bristol behind
by Kurt Busch, Special to FOXSports.com
Just the facts
Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Date: Sunday, Aug. 31
Track: Auto Club Speedway (2-mile oval), Fontana, Calif.
Race format: 250 laps
Green flag: 8:15 p.m. ET
TV: ESPN — 7 p.m. ET.
Looking back at Bristol: Never expected to struggle that bad
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After having a strong run and finishing sixth at Bristol last August, and a decent race and 12th-place finish there this spring, I never expected to struggle as much as we did last weekend at my favorite track.
We really never got a handle on it from the time we unloaded until the checkered flag flew and it you were there witnessing it all, you'd know what I mean. We fought the loose in, tight in the center and loose off problems from the first time we took to the track all the way until we loaded the car back up in the trailer.
It was probably the hardest I've ever driven to come away with just a 15th-place finish. One of my former crew member friends later told me that he was watching us come out of Turn 4 from pit road and he couldn't believe we didn't crash. He said that out of the 500 laps, it looked like we were crashing coming off that turn about 200 times. He mentioned that we were dead sideways for much of the night.
All I could tell him was that what he saw was certainly not any kind of optical illusion. I chuckled and told him that if it looked that bad, just imagine how it must have felt if you were behind the wheel trying to drive the thing.
We struggled there in the Friday practice and were not in the top 25 in practice speeds. We changed some things around for qualifying and picked it up enough to qualify 19th, but we were still fighting that loose-tight-loose bug that's plagued us most of the year.
Around the track
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Analysis:
With the August Bristol race being a two-day show, it meant that our final practice came only a couple of hours after we qualified.
We were sixth-fastest in the final practice, but it still didn't make me very confident for the race. We were pretty quick on fresh tires, but that only lasted for a few laps. We were just tracking too loose and the rear end was sliding.
We made a few changes going into the race, hoping that we could get the car handling better. But just as it has been for most of the year, we weren't even close to hitting the right combination. As strong as Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch were all night long, it was a big challenge just to stay on the lead lap.
We were fortunate enough to get the "Lucky Dog" during the race — twice actually — and that at least kept us up there in the lead lap.
It was pretty typical of the way so many races have gone for us this year ... just a typical performance in that our chassis seems to give us one strong run before the tight condition takes its toll.
We got up as high as 10th at about the halfway mark, but with about 200 laps remaining, it just got too tight and nothing we did made much difference. We took spring rubbers out, put wedge in, took wedge out, did track bar and air pressure adjustments — you name it. We just have to get it figured out on how to adjust the front end of these things. We finished 15th and until we can get the front end of our cars to turn better, that's about as strong of a finish as we can expect.
It was just another very frustrating night in what has become about the most frustrating year of my career to tell you the truth
There's no reason to sugar-coat it here. Hey, I can be about as optimistic as any of them out there.
The good thing that came out of the night was that my teammate, Ryan Newman, had a pretty good run. He started 11th and had about a sixth-place car all night long. We started out with a bit different setup in our cars. The rear springs were different.
His deal certainly worked out much better than ours, so we'll go back and analyze all the data from the race — his setup versus ours, plus the changes each team made throughout the race — and hopefully come out of it better prepared for the next time we head back to Bristol.
It looks like the fans came away from Bristol with a budding rivalry that should keep things interesting for the rest of the year. I don't think you've witnessed the end to the static there with Carl and my little brother, Kyle.
I know that it's good for the sport to have rivalries going. It certainly helps during the tough economic times we've been facing to create more ticket sales and all.
The major thing to look at there, I think, is the fact that these two teams have pretty much been the class of the field over the last several months. It could be that way throughout the Chase. OK, maybe a six-race probation will cool things down for a little while, but like I said, I think if these two teams continue to run neck and neck like that, things are bound to happen. That could really keep things interesting and maybe ensure that our sport gets adequate media attention once the football season kicks in full blast.
On to California: Just hope we can continue our consistency
California, or as they call it now, the Auto Club Speedway, has been a really good track for us through the years. We certainly hope that the trend follows us back to that track this time around.
We managed to win there a few years back and we've finished in the top-five and top-10 in a bunch of the races. Somebody pointed out earlier this week that we have an 11.4 average finish after a dozen races and that's not too shabby. We've completed something like 99.9 percent of the laps — only have two unfinished laps during all of those races — and that's pretty incredible.
California dreamin'
One of the amazing things to me is that most of the time we also seem to qualify really well there. We won both poles there in 2006 and came back and won the September pole last year. To tell you the truth, we had targeted this race among a handful where we were hoping to win us a pole and be eligible for the "Shootout" next February. But with their announcement this week of changing the eligibility requirements, we'll be able to compete even if we don't win a pole. But we'd still love to be able to start on the pole for a race or two before the year is done and have our Miller Lite Dodge win the Coors Light Pole.
Winning the pole there last fall and the way we did it was especially sweet. That track is a great one for Jimmie Johnson. He grew up down around San Diego and it has become like a home track to him. In qualifying there last year, we'd set fast time and it came down to him being the final guy with a chance to knock us off. He came as close as possible, with us beating him by only one one-thousandth of a second. It doesn't get any closer than that.
The track is a big two-mile oval that's a lot of fun to race on. It's plenty wide enough to run two, three and even four-wide in many areas. The pit road is long and straight with plenty of room to get in and out. It's just a great layout when it comes to that size and style of track.
We certainly hope to continue to enjoy the level of competitiveness we have in the past there. But the bottom line is that having such success in the past doesn't guarantee you anything, whether we are racing the car of old or this new version of race car. We are still learning everything we can about our Dodge Chargers and we've struggled quite a bit on this type and size of track.
We just have to come in there with a positive mental attitude to start with and knowing how consistent we've been is a definite boost. Not worrying about the points or focusing on the Chase this time around, we know we can afford to try some things that we couldn't do if we were in a conservative mode like many of the teams will be in.
We'll try to get the car handling as well as we can and we may use the race to do some experimenting for the future. But as the race nears the end, we can afford to gamble if it comes down to it. We can look at the fuel mileage angle, the tire strategy or whatever it calls for during the final 100 miles. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Be There!
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We're racing the car that we ran so well with in the Atlanta spring race. Hopefully we get it handling really well and have the great Penske horsepower we've enjoyed in so many races.
I don't really like to make predictions, but you'd have to think that it'll be the usual suspects running up front that you'll have to beat. Edwards will be strong, Kyle will be tough and I look for Jimmie Johnson to break out of the little slump he's been having to run up front.
I just hope we can run strong and come out of there with a respectable finish. We really need that, especially after struggling so much recently on this type of track.
Off the Track: Nothing like a trip back out west
This has been a very busy week off the track, but it hasn't been all work.
On Wednesday, I got a unique opportunity to promote the upcoming Nov. 9 Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway by visiting my old stomping grounds at the University of Arizona. I went to Arizona for a year before having to decide between school and a racing career, and it was a thrill to visit the Wildcats football team all pumped up and ready to start what we hope will be a surprising year for them in Pac-10 action.
I've only been back one time since my days in classes there. After we won the championship in '04, we went back to get a special award that they presented during the U of A's annual Sports Hall of Fame Awards. I'd love to go back and see some Pac-10 games this year, but with the schedule we have, it looks almost impossible. We did get to go see two SEC games last season and plan on hitting a couple again this year.
After that, I also got to appear at a party put together in Hollywood. Eva brought along a few friends and it was a blast.
The rest of this weekend we'll be running around and doing several fan activities. Hopefully I'll see some of you there.
Till next time ...
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