by Kurt Busch, Special to FOXSports.com

Looking Back at Kansas: Tough debut

That's been really typical of how the 2008 Sprint Cup season has played out for our Miller Lite Dodge Team. You have a good run or two and then it's back to a case of struggling and hoping to learn from it for the future.

( / Getty Images)

We had a little streak of good runs going after finishing in the top 10 at Richmond and at New Hampshire. But almost with a blink of the eye, the luck changed and we struggled at Dover two weeks ago and then again last weekend at Kansas. At least at Dover, we could write it off as getting crashed so early in the race. That wasn't the case at Kansas.

We were mediocre in practice, a little too much on the tight side. We made changes for qualifying, hoping to get the car loosened up. But when we made our run, I really couldn't feel any difference from practice and we wound up 32nd. Although we moved up one spot after Juan Pablo Montoya was disqualified, we certainly weren't that proud of our effort. But when you looked back there and saw Chase guys like Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton and Tony Stewart starting behind us, we had to think that maybe it wasn't all bad.

On race day, it was just a tough day all around — loose, tight, loose, tight. As usual, we ran the entire list of changes, even removing the spring rubbers. About the only thing we didn't try was changing shocks and we even thought about doing that. Smarter heads prevailed, I guess you could say, because we knew we'd lose more laps if we tried that.

We never made it up into the top 20 the entire race even though we were fortunate to get the lucky dog a time or two to stay up there in the lead lap. We were so loose there with 30 laps to go, I slapped the wall twice in three laps. Our handling issue didn't give us a chance to evaluate the performance of the new engine.

Around the track

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We were running the new Dodge R6P8 power plant for the first time ever there on Sunday and I really felt sorry for our friends at Dodge that the day didn't turn out any better than it did. This engine is lighter than the old one. I think maybe that's the reason that we were running on the hot side most all day long. Like I told the guys over the radio, it was like this new motor generated about 30 degrees of more heat externally and it must be slow in dissipating the heat, too.

We were able to make it until the end without any major problems, but I hate that this engine's debut didn't help produce a better run than it did. We will get a better opportunity at tracks like Phoenix and Martinsville.

I know the fans must have really enjoyed the finish between Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards. I saw the banzai move that Carl made there on the final lap. If I'd been in Jimmie's shoes, I don't know what I would have done. I'd probably have thought, "Wow, where is that fool going?" and had a big smile on my face when he slid up the track and I drove on back around for the win. Actually I congratulate Carl, too, for giving the fans something that they'll be talking about all the way until we get back to Kansas next year.

On to Talladega: Some drivers dread them, but I just love plate races

I guess a lot of folks may think I'm weird when I say this, but with the way this season has gone, I wouldn't mind if we ran restrictor-plate races each and every week. Most of the fans would probably be okay with that, but a good portion of the drivers and teams would say, "Hey, Kurt's crazy. Don't you dare listen to him."

But just look at our record this season and you know why I just can't wait for Sunday's race at Talladega. We've had our most consistent runs in the restrictor-plate races this year and Talladega offers us the final opportunity to get a plate-race win.

We finished second in the season-opening Daytona 500, helping push our teammate Ryan Newman to victory, and we came back to finish fourth at Daytona back in July. We were going for our eighth consecutive top-10 finish at Talladega back in the spring and got caught up in "The Big One."

Primed for 'Dega

Kurt Busch Penske Racing Past performances at Talladega

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Starts	Wins	Top fives	Top 10s	Laps led
15	0	6	11	81

It's just a brand of racing that I really took to from my very first race at Talladega when I finished third. It can get really wild and it's as nerve-wracking experience as there could ever be, but I've really grown to enjoy the challenge that these races present.

I don't know what driver first called it a high-speed chess match, but that's a pretty good analogy and I've always thought of the competition at Talladega that way. I've always looked at it as a huge strategic exercise that puts a premium on so many of your senses. Of course, you have to have a fairly strong race car to begin with. But the key has always been to avoid the wrecks and be there in the thick of things when the laps are winding down. The way the drafting works, you don't always have to have the strongest car out there in order to win.

It often gets really hairy out there and you're forced to really hang it all out on the line. These races just always seem to bump it up a notch or two on the stress meter for the drivers, team members and especially the fans.

The fans love it and to tell you the truth, I do, too. I know it's hard for most people to understand, but the more I'm 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'm in that position, especially how to survive it and get a good finish out of it.

I'm really jacked up about the car we'll have there for this weekend's race, too. It's a brand new car, but it's a clone of the car we ran so well with at Daytona when we finished fourth.

I've often been asked what is the biggest differences between racing the old cars and these new COT models. Then there's almost always a follow-up question about the difference in racing these cars at Talladega and down at Daytona.

One of the biggest differences centers around the rear wing versus the rear spoilers. With the old cars, you had much more of a side draft and it affected the car running by you. With these new cars, the side draft doesn't slow the other guy down.

The other big aspect involves the bump-drafting. With these new cars, it's easier to bump-draft and you can do it so much harder than before. I don't think NASCAR realized that fact entirely when the car was on the drawing board. With the old car, it became a situation that policed itself. If you bump-drafted too hard, you bent stuff and made your car overheat. That's not the case with these cars. You can go at it as hard as you want without that worry.

The bump-drafting factor is different at Talladega than it is at Daytona. It's really made Talladega easier and Daytona harder. You can bump-draft at Talladega all you want and not pay a penalty in your car's performance because the track is so wide and it's all about speed. At Daytona, it's made it even more of a handling track. You can't do the bump-drafting there like at Talladega because there is such a big premium on the handling of your car.

I expect it to be another great race at Talladega this weekend and another big show that the fans will be talking about for weeks to come.

Off the Track: What a time to be a genuine sports nut!

What a great time to be a sports nut in this country.

My Cubbies made the playoffs again, although our first game certainly didn't play out like we had hoped. Hopefully, we can bounce back and take it to the Dodgers.

I'm doing everything I can to free up a little time to go see another game. We're looking at the playoff scenario closely. I'm not going to jinx them, but if we can make it to the World Series, it will be awesome and I will be doing everything possible to get to a game.

And what about college football cranking it up at full meter now? Even though I'm a big Pac-10 supporter and a huge fan of my Arizona Wildcats, it's hard not to keep up with the ACC and especially the SEC while we're on the road doing what we do.

Paul Bostic, my coach driver, is from South Carolina and he's a big Gamecocks fan, even though his brother graduated from Clemson.

I've pretty much had to adopt the Alabama Crimson Tide as the team I root for out here on the road. Kevin Thomas was my PR guy during the years at Roush. His family lives in Huntsville and, even though they sent him to NYU, he's an unbelievable Tide supporter. Tom Roberts has been my PR dude for the last three years. Not only did he graduate from Alabama, he still lives there and bleeds Crimson Tide. that's really cool I think.

All that said, I'll bet you can guess where we'll be on Saturday. After we won the race at Loudon, I was Eli Gold's special guest on his Tuesday night "NASCAR Now" show on MRN Radio. As most people out there know, Eli has been the play-by-play voice of the Alabama football team for some 20 years now. I used that show as the opportunity to ask him for tickets to this weekend's game. Of course, just like last year Eli was happy to honor that request.

So we're heading into Saturday hoping for an early draw for qualifying since it's an impound race. It's better to qualify early when the track is cooler and faster, but we have another big reason to hope to get out there as soon as possible. Qualifying starts at 11:15 a.m. on Saturday and Eli says the 'Bama kickoff is at 2:30 p.m.

We hope to make it down to Tuscaloosa in time to take in a little of the pregame pageantry. Eva's going to the game with us on Saturday this time around and I want her to get to see just how much electricity there is in the air at an SEC football game, especially at Tuscaloosa. I'll have my Bama hat on and we're getting her a houndstooth fedora to wear

We have a couple of appearances coming up this weekend that we need to hit. The one that I can think of immediately is on Friday night. We'll be at the Wal-Mart store right off I-20 on Friday night. I think I'm there from about 6:30 p.m. for an hour. Check the store displays for the exact times if you're in the area. I'll be there to meet the fans and sign autographs. It's a huge racing and football weekend there in Alabama this weekend.

Before I wrap it up, I wanted to remind the readers about a couple of special charity functions we have coming up for our Kurt Busch Foundation. We have another big "Ride with Kurt for the Kids" fundraiser. Mark Martin is scheduled to be there with me for the day. The date of the event is October 12. You can get all the information on the day's schedule and purchase one of the exciting packages by visiting my site on the net, hit the foundation logo and scroll down.

There may even be a few spots left for our Kurt Busch Celebrity Poker Charity Tournament that's coming up on Tuesday, Oct. 14 at the Sierra Gold Ultra Tavern in Las Vegas. The cost is $500 per seat and is limited to 100 players. All proceeds will go to the Kurt Busch Foundation.

I have to add this little note about that function. We've been trying to brush up some on our card playing in an effort to be ready for this big occasion back out in Vegas. We've been having a few Monday night card games around the area — you know just a few close friends with some Miller Lites and like last week, a few more Miller Genuine Draft Light 64s — just enjoying a fun night at the card table.

Gotta go for now. Thanks so much for giving us a read. Heading to Talladega and ready to rock and roll, even ready to say "Roll Tide" along the way.

Till next time, keep it in the fast lane and out of the ditch ...