KB TAKES POLE POSITION FOR SUNDAY’S DODGE/SAVE MART 350
-Miller Lite Dodge Second-Fastest In Practice & Comes Through When It Counted-

SONOMA, Calif. (June 23, 2006) – Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch was second-fastest during today’s two-hour practice session leading up to qualifying for Sunday’s Dodge/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway.  But when it came time to put everything on the line, the 2004 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup champ showed his mettle and claimed his fifth career pole and second of the 2006 season.

            “It feels good for our team to win a second pole, first on a road course for me,” KB said after turning in a lap of 93.055 mph (76.987 seconds) to claim the eighth pole of the season for Dodge.  “There’s a little bit of Rusty (Wallace) in this car, but there’s a whole lot of Roy McCauley. We’ve been getting pretty close on it, but this is a decent lap for us. It’s a great run for our Miller Lite Dodge. Everybody has been working hard. The team communication continues to grow and this is nice.

            “It was a nice, solid run today and we kept it on course,” Busch said of his pole run that will mean he starts first for his 200th career Cup start here on Sunday.  “That was big.  Roy McCauley has a lot of creative ideas in this car. I wanted to take ‘em all out on my first few laps, but we worked on it. It’s given us a great starting position. We’re going to work on the car tomorrow. We’ve got a lot of good cars behind me. We don’t have Ricky Rudd here this year and Rusty. I finished third to Ricky last year, and I’m in Rusty’s car now. It’s going to be hot Sunday, and I think everybody should be having some Miller Lite instead of wine out here. We’ll get the No. 1 pit box, and I think that pays dividends at a lot of places, this being one.”

            Jeff Gordon had turned in a faster lap than KB in practice – with those two drivers the only competitors down turning in laps down in the 76-second bracket – but Gordon got off the track in his qualifying lap and turned in only the 11th-fastest time of the session (92.086 mph/77.797 seconds).

            Jamie McMurray took the outside pole here today with his lap of 92.948 mph (77.075 seconds).  Kevin Harvick starts third, after turning in a lap of 92.889 mph (77.124 seconds).  KB’s Penske Racing teammate Ryan Newman starts fourth (92.812 mph/77.188 seconds) and road racing ace Boris Said starts fifth (92.663 mph/77.312 seconds).  Kasey Kahne, Greg Biffle, Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth and Joe Nemechek rounded out today’s top-10 qualifiers.

            “We have two practice sessions here tomorrow (Saturday) to get her dialed in for Sunday’s race,” KB added.  “If we can be as on the money with our race setup as we were here today with our qualifying package, we’ll be in great shape.”

            Saturday’s action here at Infineon Raceway includes practice sessions at 9:30 a.m. and 11:10 a.m.  Sunday’s Dodge/Save Mart 350 (110 laps) has a 12:40 p.m. PDT starting time and features live coverage by FOX-TV and PRN Radio.

# # #