O'Reilly 300 - Same Day Coverage
Fort Worth, Texas.
by Stan Creekmore and Bobby Bennett, Jr.

SATURDAY FINAL - Busch tops Busch in first start

(4-8-2006) - Kurt Busch has a perfect record in the Busch Series. In his first series start, the Craftsman Truck Series and NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Champion won the Busch Series O'Reilly 300 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Busch is the fifth driver in the history of the Busch Series to win in his
first start. Terry Labonte accomplished the feat in 1985 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Ricky Rudd at Dover in 1983, Joe Ruttman at Dover in 1982 and Dale Earnhardt in 1982 at Daytona are the other three drivers to win in their first starts in the series.

Busch celebrated the victory by jumping from his car, diving head first into the infield grass and making an imaginary snow angel.

"Man I had no idea what to expect," he remarked from victory lane. "I just
have to thank Miller Lite for letting me go play on Saturday."

Busch held off Greg Biffle as the race ended under the green, white,
checkered rule. Casey Mears finished third followed by Kyle Busch and Matt
Kenseth.

"I took six turns of wedge out of the thing," Biffle remarked following his
second place finish. "If we took anymore wedge out of the car we would have
either wrecked or caught him. He was really strong. I'm glad to finish
second today." 

Younger brother Kyle Busch summed up to day quickly, "Congrats to Kurt."

SATURDAY NOTEBOOK - Going to school with Tiger Woods, No Wimpy Wines and the battling Busch brothers...

(4-8-2006) - First Time is the Charm - Kurt Busch won the O'Reilly 300 in his NASCAR Busch Series debut. He is the fifth driver in series history to win in his first career start. The last driver to accomplish this feat was Terry Labonte at Lowe's Motor Speedway in the fall of 1985.

Dale Earnhardt (Daytona, 1982), Joe Ruttman (Dover, 1982) and Ricky Rudd (Dover 1983) are the other three drivers to win in their series debut.

For Busch, he has six starts at Texas Motor Speedway in the NEXTEL Cup Series. he has five top top-10 finishes, including one top five. In two Craftsman Truck starts, he has a third and sixth in those events, both in 2000.

Model for NASCAR Busch program -

Just a little more time - Greg Biffle, driver of the No. 16 Ford, knew that Busch and the No. 39 Ford formed a tough combination to beat.

"Anytime the 39 has showed up, it has won," Biffle said. "You take a good driver like Kurt and put him with good equipment and it's going to be a good situation. I didn't feel like he was the one to beat. I needed a longer run. If i had 20 laps, I could have wore him down."

Rookie Lesson - Burney Lamar, driver of the No. 77 Dollar General Chevrolet, learned a valuable tidbit about driving. NASCAR Busch cars don't run well on three wheels.

Lamar lost the right outside tire in the final laps of the race. His crew didn't know and urged him to continue.

"I'm not used to crashing," Lamar said."They're telling me to drive it and I was driving it but they didn't realize how bad it was."

All about the kids – Roush Racing driver Matt Kenseth took time out of his race schedule at TMS on Thursday to visit with teenagers from Dallas / Fort Worth area middle schools to learn them about teamwork, achievement and the importance of making a difference in their community.

The national education initiative called ‘Ameriquest Soaring Dreams’ is a partnership between Ameriquest Mortgage Company, non-profit organization Portraits of Hope and Roush racing that bring together youth from schools, hospitals and after-school programs to explore personal goals and societal issues through education and art. Portraits of Hope is a organization that develops creative projects merging the healing arts with inspirational public art.

Kenseth shared his life story and discussed the importance setting goals and following your dreams with the teams. Additionally, Kenseth and youth shared their creative expressions by painting murals replicating the shapes and colors depicted on Kenseth’s No. 17 Ameriquest Soaring dreams race car that he drove in Saturday’s NASCAR Busch Series race.

This was the second of four interactive educational workshops scheduled this year with Roush Racing drivers. Last month in Bristol, Kenseth’s NBS’ teammate, Carl Edwards visited a high school in Bristol, Tenn. Mark Martin will do so later this month in Phoenix (Apr. 20) and Greg Biffle at Dover (May 30).

Ameriquest Mortgage Company is the primary sponsor of four of Roush Racing’s NBS teams in 2006, which includes Kenseth, Edwards, Martin and Biffle.

Different Paths in Life - David Gilliland (No. 84 Clay Andrews Racing Chevrolet) made his fourth NASCAR Busch Series start and his first at Texas Motor Speedway this weekend. The rookie driver is hoping someday to experience success in his chosen athletic field just like his high school varsity golf teammate Tiger Woods. As Gilliland races at Texas, Woods will attempt to defend his Masters title at Augusta. Gilliland went to school with Woods in California from sixth grade through his sophomore year at Western High School prior to his family moving. He played two years of varsity golf with Woods.

“I was never his partner on the course,” Gilliland said. “I was playing golf for a different reason. I knew that playing golf would help me on the business side of racing. I wanted to be good enough to be on a course with potential sponsors. We’re (Gilliland and Woods) not on the same team anymore, but I know we’re both chasing success this weekend.”

No Wimpy Marketing – What used to be non-traditional is mainstream now.
David Green and Ravenswood Winery and the No. 27 Brewco Motorsports Ford announced they will field a car, beginning in Phoenix, on the NASCAR Busch tour.

This sponsorship is Ravenswood Winery’s entrance into NASCAR. They will use the platform of “No Wimpy Wines”.

“Most wineries talk about bringing wine to the masses, yet they still talk to the same small group of national wine drinkers,” says Ravenswood Marketing Director Jeff Lubin. “With our Zinfomania tour, we take Ravenswood  wines directly to the people with great results. Many times consumers will trade their beer for a glass of wine, and you can’t ask for more than that.”

First time for everything – It only took 43 times, but Denny Hamlin drove the No. 20 Rockwell Automation Chevrolet to his first Busch Pole. The 20-year old driver from Chesterfield, Va., previously qualified a best second during the Mexico and Las Vegas events.

Hamlin ranks third in the NASCAR Busch Series points standings, 138 points behind Kevin Harvick. He has one win, two top fives and four top-10 finishes.

Big Brother still rules - This time around, Kyle Busch (No. 5 Lowe’s Chevrolet) has one up on his older brother, Kurt. Kyle, who has 61 NASCAR Busch Series starts and seven wins – the most recent two weeks ago at Bristol – will be the more experienced driver this weekend at Texas as Kurt will run in his first NASCAR Busch Series event in the No. 39 Penske Truck RentalDodge.

Kurt Busch and Ryan Newman are slated to share a partial schedule in the No. 39 Dodge this season.

Big brother got the first laugh by out-qualifying Kyle on Thursday by 27 spots and the last by winning the event.

Milestones - Three drivers can reach career milestones at Texas this weekend – Paul Menard (No. 11 Menard’s Chevrolet) can reach his 75th start, Jay Sauter (No. 01 Western Union Chevrolet) his 100th start and Greg Biffle his 150th. … Kevin Harvick surpassed the $6 million mark in winnings at Bristol two weeks ago, a mark reached by only seven other drivers. … Jason Keller’s streak of races competed in has reached 277.

Got Some Dough - Kevin Harvick surpassed the $6 million mark in winnings at Bristol two weeks ago, a mark reached by only seven other drivers.

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