Chase Race #1 in the Books, Busch Looks to Rally

By Mike Delahanty
Senior Manager, Dodge Motorsports
(Who is Mike?)

“We had a strong car there in the beginning and then had a motor problem. A later diagnosis left us with a problem with our carburetor. It left us without the power that we needed. It’s kind of a bummer, but we worked hard to get in this Chase and we’ll still work hard. This one is a big lump, but it didn’t hurt us so we’ll see what happens.” — Kurt Busch, Dodge NASCAR driver.

We are finally here – the Chase is on.

From Daytona, it seemed like a long way off – 26 races – over 6 months and a couple of cross-country tours. But now it’s here. We have made it to the NASCAR playoffs – The Chase for the NEXTEL Cup. For Dodge, all hopes are riding on the broad shoulders of Kurt Busch and Team Penske. Kurt suffered from a long string of bad luck earlier in the season but has turned it around and carries strong momentum into the chase.

Success in the Chase – and the Ultimate goal of becoming the Champion depends on consistent high finishes. That means “points racing” – going for the sure thing and using the set-ups and race strategy that will make for a top 5 or top 10 finish. It also means getting a break here and there – finding some luck, in other words. Unfortunately, or those in the Chase there are no exemptions to bad luck. It’s this luck or the “wrong place at the wrong time” chance encounters that make NASCAR racing so exciting – and disappointing. The golf term “mulligan” enters the NASCAR lexicon every time this year to help explain what can happen to someone with bad luck this time of year. But if it really were a mulligan, the driver could cast off the bad week’s points.

The first race of the Chase was one of the most polite and orderly that I can remember. It marked one of the few times that the 43 cars that started the race finished the race. Drivers were on their best behavior and gave the Chasers plenty of room to race. There were a few spins – but none of the typical carnage. The race shops will likely book less OT fixing cars and hanging new sheetmetal this week.

Kurt Busch is probably wishing the mulligan rule applied after a 50 cent part broke in his carburetor causing his Avenger to lose full power – sending him to the middle of the pack but the back of Chasers. He’ll have to take his 25th place finish and now sits 102 points out of first.

There are 9 more races to go and countless possibilities of what can happen to Kurt and the other Chasers. This weekend the chase for the Nextel Cup moves to the Monster Mile in Dover, Delaware for the Dodge Dealers 400. It’s a steeply banked concrete mile track that makes for Bristol-like fast paced action. Kurt ran strong there in the spring race before his highly publicized altercation with Tony Stewart. It may be another week of polite and orderly “points racing” as the drivers make the safer and conservative decisions on the track – especially those at the front.

But as the weeks count down and the pressure builds, I expect that to change.