Busch Rides High into Richmond...
Senior Editor
Kurt Busch climbed back to the top of the Sprint Cup Series point standings and looks to increase his five-point lead over Jeff Gordon in Saturday night's Crown Royal Presents the Russ Friedman 400 at Richmond International Raceway.
"Being in the points lead is great and is something to be proud of, but we know we have to keep all that pride and emotion in check," Busch said of his first time with the points lead in the last 150 races. "We're only nine races into the season – Richmond will be the 10th race this year – and there is just so much more racing to be done. We can't let any of the early success we've enjoyed so far go to our heads."
The strong start in the season's first nine races has to be rewarding to Busch and the Penske Racing team, which fell on hard times the past two seasons despite a 1-2 finish in the 2008 Daytona 500.
A return to victory lane in Atlanta was just the start of what Busch believes will be a season that could certainly include a run for another title.
"Our plan when we entered this season was to attack each and every race like it was the most important race on the schedule, with our first major goal being to make the Chase," said Busch, who enters Saturday night's Richmond battle sporting an impressive 9.4 average finish for the year so far. "Our strategy has been to attack every race with the attitude of getting everything we can out of it. If we have a top-10 car, then we strive to make sure we come out of the race with a top-10 finish."
Busch and crew chief Pat Tryson have fallen into a solid rhythm and chemistry that started to show signs of success with a solid finish to last season.
The duo went into 2009 determined to build on that momentum.
"Before the season started, Pat and I had many discussions about strategies and goals for the 2009 season and the subject would always come back to our objective of being as consistent as we could in every race," said Busch. "We've been executing the strategy we adopted entering 2009 extremely well and it's paying dividends.
"Our plan is to keep focused and try to stay the course as the season rolls on," said Busch, who stood fourth in the point standings (trailing leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. by 125 points) after nine races during his successful run to the 2004 NASCAR points title. "We're looking at it as if we have nine races behind us and 17 to go in getting everything we can out of each and every one of them."
Next race Saturday 5-2!
