but first, these notes of interest:

--Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch will be participating in a special news conference with the Las Vegas Valley Water District on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. local time at the NASCAR Café in Las Vegas.  Before his racing career kicked off, KB worked for the LVVWD.  Now, he returns home to partner with Water Works Industry Solutions to launch a national training campaign. For additional information, please contact Jeff Caponigro at jcap@caponigro.com or at (248) 388-4981.

--Kurt Busch will certainly be making the rounds in his hometown of Las Vegas this week and one of the stops will be The Palms Casino on Thursday evening (beginning at 6:30 p.m. local time) for an interview with popular comedian, actor and talk show host, Adam Corolla.  After the interview, KB will head over to the adjacent Rain Nightclub to host the Miller Lite Racing Rocks Concert, featuring popular recording group, Puddle of Mudd.  For additional information, please visit these sites: http://adam.freefm.com/pages/9484.php and http://www.xtremeradio.com/

--You Can Go Home Again.and Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch will be doing his best to prove it as he takes an ESPN film crew around his hometown of Las Vegas this week.  "It won't be what you might think," says ESPN feature producer, Jeremy Louwerse.  "You probably won't see a single clip of The Strip or what Las Vegas is most famous for.  Our intent is to go back and take a look at Kurt's roots - the neighborhood where the 2004 NASCAR champ grew up, his high school, his favorite fast food joint - all the local color he experienced growing up in Las Vegas before making it big time in racing."  The feature is set to first air on Friday morning's popular ESPN2 program, Cold Pizza.  The two-hour, weekday morning show airs live from New York City between 10 a.m. -12 noon.  The program is hosted by Jay Crawford and Dana Jacobson.

--Winning his first pole for his Miller Lite/Penske Racing team in only his second race with the organization certainly highlighted Kurt Busch's most recent outing during the recent Auto Club 500 at California Speedway.  "It was an incredible team effort out there in getting such a fast race car prepared for me to drive," said Busch.  "Because we didn't get the finish that we'd hoped for, the super job our pit crew did there that Sunday pretty much went unnoticed.  I tell you what; I certainly observed what a great job they did.  Roy (crew chief Roy McCauley) said that it rated as one of the best overall days the No. 2 team has ever had in the pits and I know they were lightning-fast all day long."  The crew's recorded pit log shows the team had eight total pit stops during the race - six four-tire stops and two two-tire stops.  Two of the four-tire stops were clocked at less than 13 seconds (12.79 seconds and 12.31 seconds) and the overall average for all the four-tire stops was 13.16 seconds.  KB's 2006 Miller Lite Dodge crew personnel includes tire changers Jay Hackney and Kevin Hebert, tire carriers Dave Littau and Andy Brown, jack man Ray Gallahan, gas man Chris Williams and gas catch man Steve Williams.  Jeremy Brickhouse serves as spotter, while Dustin Coonfield handles the windshield duties and car chief Corey Tucker assists with the second fuel can.

--So how did Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch spend last weekend's open date along the 2006 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup schedule?  Although Kurt has relocated to North Carolina.with the entire Busch clan now living at Busch Acres.just outside of Mooresville, KB is still very much a "desert rat" at heart.  He tries to "come home" to Vegas as often as possible and, on a pretty regular basis, he gets together with many of his friends from the days of growing up there.  So was the case last weekend as KB and his "posse" spent a few days 4-wheeling out in the desert.  Not just a few guys and their ATVs out there making a bunch of noise and having fun.  They've taken this stuff to the next level.  During the last couple of months, some of the guys worked on a special project.  They built and perfected their own version of an NHRA "Christmas Tree" staging system and KB's group held organized drag races.

--Speaking of drag racing, Kurt is fast becoming buddies with NHRA team owner Don "the Snake" Prudhomme and they spent some time together recently when Snake visited California Speedway.they compared notes about planes, their love for golf and other interests.Snake finally asked KB, "How old are you, kid?"  When KB answered, "27," Snake just smiled, coiled back and said in his California cool drawl."27 huh.27.Lear 31-A huh.really love golf, huh.27.27.damned, I've got parts that old." Their chitchat wound down with Snake pledging to come and support KB's NASCAR team as often as possible and Kurt going to as many NHRA events as possible and supporting Larry Dixon's Miller Lite top fuel team.  Snake concluded the conversation with the offer to KB to come and drive the Miller Lite top fuel car, which Kurt said he was definitely going to take him up on.  Kurt said that, in return, he'd work to put Larry in the Miller Lite Dodge to take a spin.stay tuned for that happening later this year.

--Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch really looking forward to Vegas race weekend. The 27-year-old Las Vegas native is still looking for his first win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway after five races.  His third-place finish last year rates as his best to date.  KB has a "race win scale" of his own.as to his view of the prestige level.  Naturally, the Daytona 500 rates as tops.  He has the Brickyard as "probably second," with Vegas third.KB's biggest of his 14 wins to date?  "The Bristol night race," he says of the 8/23/03 Sharpie 500.  KB and Rusty Wallace actually flew over the Bristol track together back in December and started talking about their love of the place.  Rusty was somewhat surprised when Kurt told him that he'd already won four races there.  With Rusty now retired, could KB be the new "Bristol King?"

--Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch is a scheduled guest on Friday night's edition of Trackside on Speed TV.  The live appearance will take place at 5:30 p.m. local (airs live at 8:30 p.m. EST).

--Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch set to sign autographs at his merchandising trailer on Sunday morning from 9:30 a.m. till 10:30 a.m. local time.  Check trailer in advance for additional information and to get free ticket that is required.

--It's A Fact.Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch and fiancée, Eva Bryan, love animals.  Most  around the track know about their canine companions, Jim & Ginger.  Most don't know about their other pets."So, I love pets, got the 2 dogs," KB recently explained.  "But, also on the pet front. I've got 2 goats.  What was the nickname of the old Pontiac in the 60's? - the GTO. There you go.I named the goat GTO.  That's the male goat.  And the female's Petunia cause she has white markings on it - it looks like a white flower. So my male goat is GTO and the female is Petunia."

--"If only we'd stop trying so hard to be happy, we could have a pretty good time." -Edith Wharton

Contact:            Tom Roberts
Scott Bussen   

WIN IN SUNDAY’S 400-MILER AT VEGAS WOULD BE SPECIAL FOR BUSCH
-Miller Lite Dodge Driver & Las Vegas Native Kurt Busch Rates Win In Vegas Race As Third Most Prestigious-

LAS VEGAS (March 7, 2006) – It is highly doubtful that any NASCAR NEXTEL Cup competitor wants to win Sunday’s UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as much as Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch.  It is almost certain that Busch’s value of such a win exceeds that of all the other drivers.

            “You could say that I have a race win scale that’s based on what I feel is the level of prestige associated with a particular victory,” said the 27-year-old Las Vegas native.  “It’s a given that the Daytona 500 is our biggest race – it’s NASCAR’s ‘Super Bowl,’ that’s for sure.  You’d have to put Indy and the Brickyard (400) as second on that list, just because of the incredible history the facility hosting the race has.

            “In my mind and on my personal scale, I have to put a Vegas win as next – as the third most prestigious on the list,” Busch continued.  “There are a lot of big races out there.  You can’t deny that the Coke 600 is big…really big.  A win at Darlington is certainly special from an historical angle.  And, man, what about the August night race at Bristol?

            “I know that I’m pretty biased when it comes to racing in Vegas and I think most people can understand that.  They may not agree with it or appreciate it that much, but they can understand how I feel.”

            A review of Busch’s near meteoric rise to the top of his game perhaps offers some insight into his feelings.

            Only 12 years ago, the 15-year-old Busch could be found driving a Dwarf Car owned by his father on the high-banked quarter-mile Pahrump Valley Speedway, located a 60-mile drive out Nevada Highway 160 from Las Vegas.

            Then, it was over to The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where Busch claimed the 1996 NASCAR Weekly Racing Series Hobby Stock championship, among three of the titles he won at the three-eighths-mile asphalt oval.

            After a year at the University of Arizona, Busch was back racing full time on the NASCAR Southwest Tour for the Las Vegas-based team owned by local businessman Craig Keough.

            After winning that series’ rookie title in 1998 and the points championship a year later, he signed on with Roush Racing for 2000.  After a year in NASCAR Craftsman Truck competition, Busch became a fixture on the NEXTEL Cup tour in 2001.  Five seasons later, he has enjoyed a flourishing career that has produced 14 race wins and the 2004 points title.

            “One of the projects that I was deeply involved in back during the off season was a big effort in getting my historical photos, the various newspaper clippings organized…trying to get the archives in order,” said Busch.  “There’s this one photo that I have which is one of my favorites…if not my very favorite.

            “I’m posing by my old Hobby Stock car at The Bullring.  The angle of this photo makes the background very prominent.  In the background, you can see all the big cranes at work and Las Vegas Motor Speedway being built.  That photo really is a neat representation of my career.  I think it depicts what has happened about as well as possible.  When I was growing up and racing in Vegas, I just looked at it as something my dad and I could do together and really enjoy spending that time with each other.  That photo will always be super special to me.

            “You know, if I was to win Vegas, oh man, I’d come unglued,” Busch concluded.  “It’s my big race.  A lot of people like coming here, doing the race and the city in one huge weekend with so much going on.  It’s my hometown.  I used to haul (rear) through that desert parking lot before the big track even existed after a race at the local short track.  You know…I saw it built from the ground up.  With the track being completely redesigned after this race, it’d be extra special to win this weekend.  I want to win at all the tracks and hopefully I’ll be around long enough to win at most of them.  But, Vegas is No. 1 on my hit list right now.”

            So, what are Busch’s chances this weekend of adding LVMS to the list of 10 tracks where he has already claimed a victory?

            “If desire had anything to do with it, it would be a done deal,” offered crew chief Roy McCauley.  “Nobody wants to win at Las Vegas this weekend as much as Kurt does.

            “You could certainly feel how much a win would mean to him during our test there several weeks back.  He was really on the throttle for the entire time we were there.  We were top-five material throughout the sessions and we got in several 30-lap runs.  I’m looking for us to be very competitive this weekend at Vegas.”

            Busch, McCauley & team will be racing their PRS-096 chassis this weekend at Las Vegas.  It is a 2004 model Miller Lite Dodge and is the same car the team used in the test back on Jan. 31-Feb. 1.

            Busch’s career record at LVMS boasts one top-five finish and two top-10s in five races.  He has never qualified lower than ninth and his 4.8 starting average leads all drivers with more than two starts on the track.

            His best LVMS finish to date, a third, came in last year’s visit to the 1.5-mile track.  He led two times for 40 laps and came back from a late-race pit miscue that saw him relegated to the 24th spot with 70 laps remaining.

            “We had to pit a second time under the yellow there late in the race last year due to some loose lugnuts on the left front,” Busch recalled.  “We were able to rally pretty hard there in the remaining laps and it was really neat to be up there racing with my little brother (Kyle), who finished right in front of me.”

            This weekend’s UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 schedule gets under way on Friday with practice set from 12:05 p.m. till 1:35 p.m.  Qualifying to determine the entire 43-car starting field is on tap later that afternoon at 3:40 p.m.  Saturday’s Cup action includes practice sessions from 9:00 a.m. till 10 a.m. and 10:35 a.m. till 11:20 a.m.  The 400-mile, 267-lap UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. local time (4:30 p.m. EST) and features live coverage by FOX-TV and the Performance Racing (Radio) Network.

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