Hendrick Motorsports, Press Release
CHEEZ-IT UP: Kellogg Company's tasty baked snack cracker Cheez-It will adorn the hood of Kyle Busch's No. 5 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS for Sunday's NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series event at Texas Motor Speedway. The Cheez-It logo will make another appearance at the California Speedway event later this season.
BUSCH COMING OFF CAREER BEST AT TEXAS: Busch earned a fourth-place finish and posted the fourth-best driver rating in November at Texas Motor Speedway. It was Busch's career-best result at the 1.5-mile tri-oval in NEXTEL Cup competition.
TESTING AT RICHMOND: Busch and the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team participated in the NEXTEL Cup Series test at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway on April 3 and 4. Busch has never finished out of the top five in his four Cup starts at the .75-mile D-shaped oval.
HENDRICK MATCHES BEST-EVER START: With its performance thus far in 2007, Hendrick Motorsports has matched its best start to a NEXTEL Cup season. In 1995, Jeff Gordon (three victories) and Terry Labonte (one) combined to win four of the first six Cup races. With 10 victories, car owner Rick Hendrick posted his first double-digit win total that season as Gordon went on to clinch the organization's first Cup Series title. Hendrick's drivers have combined for four wins through six 2007 events and have three drivers among the top five in championship points.
CONGRATS TO THE HULSTEINS: Kellogg's/CARQUEST crew member Kevin Hulstein took advantage of the off-weekend to marry his fiancée Nicole. Hulstein, a mechanic on the No. 5 team, is a native of Willmar, Minn., and has worked at Hendrick Motorsports since 2002.
CAR SELECTION FOR TEXAS: Crew chief Alan Gustafson has selected Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 388 for Texas. The car has been used as a backup and has not seen action since last fall's event at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
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BUSCH IN SUNDANCE SQUARE: Kyle Busch will appear in Sundance Square, located in downtown Fort Worth, Texas, at 6:30 p.m. local time Friday evening on behalf of Chevrolet.
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KYLE BUSCH, DRIVER OF THE NO. 5 CHEEZ-IT/CARQUEST CHEVROLET:
(ON HIGHS AND LOWS AT TEXAS.)
"Last season we had our best finish at Texas Motor Speedway to date -- a fourth-place finish. I've run well there, but haven't been able to really finish the deal. We either had hard crashes coming out of turn four or just had weird stuff go wrong. One race I had the ignition just shut off on me, and it was a problem with the kill switch. I'd love to say we can better a fourth-place finish but we'll see. I've run good in the Busch and Truck series but struggled in Cup. We're taking a good car that we think will be solid from the time we unload."
(ON TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY FIXING "THE BUMP."
"There was always a substantial bump between turns one and two. I'm glad Texas has fixed that, but we'll have to wait and see how smooth it is."
(ON THE OFF-WEEKEND AND HIS SEASON SO FAR.)
"Last weekend was relaxing. It was good to not have to be anywhere or do anything. I just bought a boat and I can't wait until the weather gets better to take it out on the lake. I'm fairly certain I will get a lot of use out of it. This season we've had some ups and downs. I think we've shown that we can be dominant, but we definitely haven't closed the deal on every opportunity. Fifth in the points isn't too bad. It's good to see three of the four Hendrick Motorsports cars in the top five. It means we've done our homework."
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ALAN GUSTAFSON, CREW CHIEF OF THE NO. 5 CHEEZ-IT /CARQUEST CHEVROLET:
(ON TEXAS.)
"We're looking forward to getting back on the mile and a half tracks. We had a terrible outing in Atlanta and have to redeem ourselves this weekend. We touched on something last fall in Texas and finally got ourselves out of the slump we experienced at that track. Our goal is to improve on our best finish (fourth) and maybe get a top-three."
(ON THE NEW R07 ENGINE PACKAGE.)
"We feel like the R07 puts us in the best position to win. The Hendrick Motorsports engine department has done substantial testing and they feel comfortable with the reliability. We're excited to be one of the first teams to try it out in a race."
(ON THE QUICK TURNAROUND BETWEEN TEXAS AND PHOENIX.)
"We really had to turn things around in the shop over the off weekend. We took a car to the seven-post test and then had to get Texas and Phoenix cars ready at the same time. We will have another transporter meet our primary truck in Texas and switch out the cars there, so the truck driver doesn't have to come back to Charlotte after Texas and then head to Phoenix. It's a little more work on the guys in the shop, but it makes it easier on the ones who have to drive our equipment across the country."
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