The only sure thing when the NASCAR Busch Series comes to Kentucky Speedway is that you’ll be unsure about predicting a winner – or a Busch Pole winner for that matter.

In the first six events the series has held at Kentucky Speedway there has never been a repeat winner or polesitter. Also, only once has a driver won from the pole and that was Carl Edwards (#60 Scotts Ford) – the current series points leader – in 2005.  

Kentucky is a 1.5-mile oval that always seems to turn up a new talent looking to advance to NASCAR’s premier series: NASCARE NEXTEL Cup. Example: David Gilliland, who turned up in 2006 with an upset Kentucky win and now finds himself driving for Robert Yates Racing. 

Another series regular, Bobby Hamilton Jr. (#35 McDonalds Ford), grabbed his first win of 2003 at Kentucky en route to his best overall season as he finished fourth in the final series standings. Kyle Busch in 2004 racked up five wins, one at Kentucky, and went on to finish as the series runner-up. In both drivers’ cases, they moved to NASCAR NEXTEL Cup the following year.
   
NASCAR Busch Series Tests In Montreal

Two-time NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series champion Terry Labonte – who also has 11 NASCAR Busch Series wins, four of those at the Watkins Glen International road course – is participating in a one-day test at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal today (June 12).

Labonte will drive the #21 Chevy of Richard Childress Racing and similar to Jeff Burton’s test in Mexico City three years ago, also in RCR equipment, will be on point for information to be shared among all teams participating in the Aug. 4 event. Labonte, like Burton, was an appropriate choice, since he’s not running in the event.

The test consisted of two sessions at the 2.709-mile road course located on a man-made island on the St. Lawrence River.

In The Loop: Wallace On A Roll

A snowball effect may be in the works for Steve Wallace (#66 HomeLife Community Dodge).

Wallace won the Busch Pole last week in Nashville and scored his best finish of the year – 12th. This weekend, Wallace returns to the site of his best career NASCAR Busch Series victory – Kentucky Speedway. A string of success seems possible, if not likely.

Wallace finished 11th at Kentucky last year, and Kentucky has a history of making careers (see David Gilliland, 2006). That could happen for the 19-year-old this weekend, as he racked up impressive numbers last year at this race.

Last year, Wallace had a Driver Rating of 99.1 (ninth-best) and an Average Running Position of 9.235 (sixth-best). He also had 30 Quality Passes – passes of cars in the top 15 under green – which was tied for the four-highest number and just three off Kevin Harvick’s total of 33.

NASCAR Busch Series standings leader Carl Edwards, who his coming off his fourth win of the season, will attempt to become the first repeat winner at Kentucky this weekend. Edwards has had a love-hate relationship with Kentucky over the past two years – he’s won and finished 36th in his past two visits.

In his 2005 win, though, Edwards dominated. He scored a perfect Driver Rating of 150.0, had a Average Running Position of 2.055, ran the fastest lap 75 times and led 150 of 200 laps, a series-best Driver Rating of 128.4 and an Average Running Position of 4.434.

J.J. Yeley is another double-duty driver who will run both the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race in Michigan and the Busch Series race at Kentucky. If past history is any indication, the trip to Kentucky could be a worthwhile trek. In two Kentucky races, Yeley has an average Driver Rating of 117.6 (which is best of any driver who has ran each of the last two races there), an Average Running Position of 6.380 and 28 Fastest Laps Run.
 
NBS ETC.

• Joe Balash Gets The Key: On Thursday Kentucky Speedway will be presenting “Racing to the Square” in downtown Cincinnati at Fountain Square. The presentation will go from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.
  
  At 12:30 p.m. Joe Balash, NASCAR Busch series director, will present the Green Flag to the Mayor of Cincinnati Mark Mallory. Mallory is the Honorary Starter for the Meijer 300 presented by Oreo. In return, Mayor Mallory will present the Key to the City to Joe Balash. ESPN’s Marty Reid will be the emcee of the event. In addition, there will be a couple haulers on the square, showcars and interactive games.
  
  Balash is in his fourth year as the NASCAR Busch Series Director. Balash is from Hobart, Ind., and receiving this award from the city of Cincinnati being so close to home is a big honor.
  
  “I don’t know how many of these awards are given out, but it is a great honor to receive the Key to the City,” said Balash. “It really shows how far the popularity level of the NASCAR Busch Series has come.” He goes on to say, “It is an award I will always remember.”
  
• Double-Duty Drivers: Another stand-alone this weekend where double-duty drivers will have subs for practice and qualifying. Seven drivers are scheduled to sub at Kentucky this weekend. Matt McCall will sub for standings leader Carl Edwards, while Auggie Vidovich does the same for Edwards’ teammate David Ragan; Chad Blount for Dave Blaney (#10 Camping World Toyota); Chad Chaffin for J.J. Yeley (#1 Miccosukee Resort Chevy) and Casey Atwood for Greg Biffle. Two drivers will be filling in for the whole weekend; Kertus Davis and Cale Gale will be subbing in the #77 Dollar General Chevy and #33 Camping World Chevy, respectively.
  
• Huffman Makes His First Appearance: J.R. Motorsports’ Shane Huffman (#88 NAVY Chevy) will make his first ever start at Kentucky Speedway. He heads into this weekend with two top-10 finishes looking to be the next fresh face to win at Kentucky and keep the streak alive of never having a repeat winner. Though he has a big challenge ahead of him, he has raced on several 1.5-mile tracks, notching a ninth place at Las Vegas this past March.
  
• Bires Replaces Wood At Kentucky: Wood Brothers/JTG Racing announced June 5th that developmental driver Kelly Bires, driver of the team’s #21 Ford in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competition, will stand in for Jon Wood in the #47 Clorox/American Red Cross Ford this weekend at Kentucky. Bires (pronounced BY–ers) is a 22-year old native of Mauston, Wis., who has started six races in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series this season, five for Wood Bros./JTG Racing. He posted his career-best finish (10th) at Atlanta earlier this year.
  
  Prior to Dover, Wood had started 83 consecutive races in the NASCAR Busch Series dating back to 2004, his first full season in the series. He was 22nd in the point standings with one top-10 finish this season – 10th at Mexico City in March – prior to Dover.

The Director’s Take: Nashville

WHAT TO WATCH FOR AT NASHVILLE: THOUGHTS FROM JOE BALASH, NASCAR BUSCH SERIES DIRECTOR

Kentucky Speedway, like most 1.5-mile tracks, is a track where finding the best balance in the car to make the car turn is key. 

Most teams will be trying to optimize a "Coil Bind" set-up.  This is where the front spring is fully compressed.  It makes the car look like it is riding on the front bumper.  With this set-up, the nose seals to the track giving the best aerodynamic advantage to the team that can use their shocks to hold the car down the best.

This set-up also helps the car rotate in the corner so the car turns.  The last part of the equation is how the driver uses his brakes to "set" the car down on the spring. They do not want it to slam; it must be a smooth compression of the spring.

Rookie Spotlight: Ragan At Top Of Leader Board

• Ragan Answers The Call: David Ragan (#6 AAA Ford) came back in impressive fashion this weekend by grabbing the Raybestos Rookie of the Race award and re-taking the lead in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings after finishing seventh in Nashville. Marcos Ambrose (#59 Kingsford Ford) finds himself back in second after catching Ragan last weekend to tie-up the points lead. This season, Ragan has posted five top-20 finishes including one top five at the season opener in Daytona Beach.

• Coleman Knows Kentucky:  Brad Coleman (#18 Carino’s Italian Grill Chevy) will be making his first start at Kentucky in the NASCAR Busch Series, but this won’t be the first time the rookie driver has taken on the 1.5-mile track. Last year in the ARCA RE/MAX Series Coleman won at Kentucky defending the lead from eight-time ARCA Series champion Frank Kimmel.  After he won he got out of his car (below) and did his signature “‘Brad Coleman Bow.”

2007 NASCAR BUSCH SERIES

RAYBESTOS ROOKIE OF THE YEAR STANDINGS

       Driver                     Points
 1.   David Ragan              154
 2.   Marcos Ambrose        147
 3.   Juan Pablo Montoya   137
 4.   Kyle Krisiloff              129
 5.   Brad Keselowski          87
 6.   Brad Coleman              50
 7.   Justin Diercks              44
 8.   Robert Richardson Jr.   38
 9.   Sam Hornish Jr.           35
10.  Bobby Santos              13
11.  Alex Garcia                   6

ESPN/ABC

ESPN2 will feature NASCAR Busch Series racing live Saturday, June 16, from Kentucky Speedway as the series makes its only appearance of 2007 at the 1.5-mile track located near Cincinnati. The telecast begins with NASCAR Countdown at 8 p.m. ET, and the 300-mile race starts at 8:30 p.m.

Rusty Wallace, the 1989 NASCAR Cup Series champion and ESPN’s lead auto racing analyst, and anchor announcer Marty Reid will call the race from the booth. Pit reporters will be Dave Burns, Jamie Little, Shannon Spake and Vince Welch. Mike Massaro will host NASCAR Countdown at Kentucky, joined in the ESPN Pit Studio by analyst Brad Daugherty. Tim Brewer will be at the ESPN Chevy Cutaway Car.

In addition to the Busch Series race telecast on ESPN2, ESPN’s signature broadband service, ESPN360.com, will deliver a live online simulcast of Busch Series events in June, ESPN360.com’s most explosive month of coverage yet, with up to 102 live events. A Spanish-language version of the race will be televised on ESPN Deportes, ESPN’s domestic Spanish-language network.

2007 At-A-Glance: NASCAR Busch Series Leaders After 15 Of 35 Races:

Traditional Statistics:
Driver points – Edwards (2460) 
Victories – Edwards (4)
Races led -- Edwards (11)
Laps led – Ky. Busch (536)
Top-five finishes – Edwards (11)
Top-10 finishes – Edwards (13)
Owner points – Roush (#60) - (2,460) 
Money Won – Edwards ($654,900) 
Miles led – Ky. Busch (766.03) 
Busch Poles – Hamlin (3)
Closing in on Top 10 – Biffle 10th (1,513 pts) Ambrose (-5), Leffler (-31)
Consecutive Weeks in Top 10 – Blaney, Edwards, Harvick (15)

Loop Data Statistics:

Driver Rating – Edwards (116.6)
Average Running Position – Edwards (6.892)
Fastest Laps Run – Ky. Busch (252 fastest laps)
Quality Passes – Edwards (634)
Laps In Top 15 – Edwards (2,590 of a possible 2,814)

Ford On A Charge For Manufacturers’ Lead

Carl Edwards’ series-leading fourth win of the season has helped Ford close the gap on Chevy in the Bill France Performance Cup standings as the series heads to Kentucky this weekend.

In the last couple of weeks, Ford has been climbing back into contention for the lead with the Roush Fenway Racing teammates Matt Kenseth (#17 Arby’s Ford) and Edwards blazing the path. Chevy still holds on to the lead by nine points with a series-high seven wins.

Dodge is still ahead of Toyota in third place, but Jason Leffler’s (#38 Great Clips Toyota) third-place finish at Nashville helped Toyota chip away at the nine points that separate the two.

Manufacturers' Championship
2007 Point Standings
Chevy  109
Ford    100
Dodge   65
Toyota  56

Up Next: AT&T 250 At The Milwaukee Mile

The NASCAR Busch Series travels to The Milwaukee Mile next week for the AT&T 250.

Last year, Paul Menard (#11 Menard’s Chevy) captured his first series win at his hometown track The Milwaukee Mile. Menard went on to finish the season with seven top-fives and 16 top-10s. 

Aric Almirola (#20 Rockwell Automation Chevy) subbing for Denny Hamlin put the #20 on the Pole last June. Hamlin then drove to a second-place finish. 

The action kicks off on June 23 at The Milwaukee Mile. NASCAR Busch Series practice, qualifying and the race are all on Saturday. The garage opens at 7:30 a.m. and practice starts at  9 a.m.   

2007 Point Standings

Pos. Driver       Points
1     Edwards     2,460
2     Harvick       1,798
3     Blaney        1,715
4     Reutimann   1,649
5     Smith          ,633
6     Kenseth      1,591
7     Hamilton     1,574
8     Ragan         1,571
9     Bowyer       1,529
10   Biffle           1,513

The Race:  Meijer 300 presented by Oreo
The Place: Kentucky Speedway
The Date:  June 16, 20071
The Time: 8:30 p.m. (ET)
TV: ESPN2, 8:00 p.m. (ET)
Track Layout: 1.5-mile oval
Race Purse: $1,441,056
2006 Winner: David Gilliland
2006 Pole: Denny Hamlin 

Schedule:
Friday–Practice, 5-6 p.m.
Rookie Practice, 6:15-6:45 p.m. 
Final Practice, 7-8 p.m.
Saturday–Qualifying, 5:10 p.m.