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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Kurt Busch Drives For Title Two
Kurt Busch won the first NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup...
Mike Hembree  |  Posted September 09, 2010   Charlotte, NC
Jack Roush (Left) and Kurt Busch (Right) celebrate in victory lane at Homestead-Miami, 2004. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Kurt Busch is a guest on tonight's NASCAR Race Hub at 7pm ET

As long as there is a Chase for the Sprint Cup – no matter the format, Kurt Busch always can claim he was first.

When the Chase debuted to mixed reviews but heightened anticipation in 2004, Busch stepped to the forefront in the season’s final race and won the championship despite losing a wheel and almost ripping apart the pit wall at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Busch drove that season for team owner Jack Roush, who also had won the title the previous year with driver Matt Kenseth, whose one-win championship year helped to accelerate the move to the Chase.

Busch led the 2004 Chase for the last eight races of the 10-race run. He had a win and nine top 10s over the stretch.

Since that first Chase year, Busch has been in four of the six championship runs, but the closest he’s come to that first run was last year’s fourth-place finish.

Busch goes into Saturday night’s Air Guard 400 at Richmond International Raceway with two victories (and, thus, 20 bonus points) to carry into the Chase next week.

“We’re focused on winning this weekend at Richmond, picking up those valuable bonus points entering the Chase and going into those final 10 races with a lot of momentum and a full-steam-ahead attitude,” Busch said. “Some of the guys have won more races already this season and have more bonus points built up. We need to try to even the score and get on a more level playing field as we head on to Loudon and kick off this year’s Chase.”

Consistency, the hallmark of success over the long Sprint Cup season, is something Busch hasn’t had lately. Over the past 10 races, he’s been all over the map – four finishes of 26th or worse, along with six top 10s. Over the course of the full season, however, Busch has 15 top-10 finishes, second only to point leader Kevin Harvick’s 16.

“Logging those top-five finishes and top 10s, staying out of trouble; that’s how it’s done,” Busch said. “When you get into the Chase, it’s so difficult in overcoming a crash or an engine failure that results in a DNF. My rule of measure is that you have to win two races to even begin to make up for one DNF. Hopefully, we can pick up some additional bonus points by winning at Richmond and head into the Chase only 20 points or so behind the leader. Then, we’ll have to really have our act together and run the most consistent stretch of 10 races that we’ve had all season.”
Kurt Busch finished 18th at Richmond. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

The Dodge Busch will drive at Richmond has won twice in four races. It debuted with a win last year at Texas then finished fourth at Homestead. This year, the car was damaged in a crash at Las Vegas but returned to win the Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte.

Busch has one win and six top 10s in 19 races at RIR. He has failed to finish only one of those events.

“It’s just a fun track to race on, whether the track conditions are perfect or not,” he said. “It seems like you can race guys side-by-side and do it at the beginning of a run or at the end of runs. Then it becomes a challenge between short-track setups, as well as what you might do on the intermediate mile-and-a-half tracks. Mainly, getting your car to turn in the center of the corner is the toughest part of racing there. Making your car good in the long runs is also very important at Richmond.”

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.

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