Busch happy to be headed to Bristol

Thursday, March 23, 2006 | 7:24 a.m.

Kurt Busch doesn't have a finish in the top 15 in four races this season and is 28th in NASCAR Nextel Cup Series points. But Busch, a Las Vegas native, couldn't be more optimistic heading into this weekend's race.

Of course, this weekend's race is at Bristol Motor Speedway, the half-mile oval where Busch has scored four of his 14 career Cup victories and has seven top-10 finishes in his past eight races. Although all of Busch's success at the speedway in northern Tennessee came in Roush Racing Fords, the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge he now pilots found victory lane seven times at Bristol with Rusty Wallace behind the wheel.

"It's my favorite racetrack on the circuit," Busch said.

Four races into his new job with Penske Racing, Busch said he also feels confident with the team's strategy going into this event as compared to the way Roush Racing approached short-track races.

"I see the way that they (Penske Racing) prepare cars and approach short-track chassis is much more in detail than what I'm used to in the past," he said. "I believe that's how Rusty has had success in the past at Bristol, is the fact they build good cars.

"Rusty is definitely very, very keen on what shocks you need to run at Bristol and the different adjustments. I'm going to use that knowledge as well as what I've had there in the past, and hopefully we can definitely put together a good run to gain some points back."

Not that Busch is overly concerned about being 28th in points at this stage in the season.

"We are by no means in a panic," Busch said. "We have four races down (and) we've shown potential in each of those four races. We had top-five cars at Daytona and Atlanta, we just didn't make it to the end. If we would have finished those two races, we would be top 10 in points."

Trading places

Dan Wheldon, who won a series-record six races - including the Indianapolis 500 - en route to the 2005 Indy Racing League championship, said he won't be lacking motivation as the 2006 IRL season opens Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida.

Wheldon made the move in the off-season to Target Chip Ganassi Racing after winning the championship with Andretti Green Racing, where Wheldon spent the past three seasons.

"I've changed teams, which has really kind of given me more energy ... even more motivation," Wheldon said. "I'm looking forward to trying to achieve exactly the same (results) as I did last year."

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