After a tough Friday at Gainesville Raceway, Kurt Busch bounced back and solidly qualified his Shell-Mopar Dodge in the 12th position on Saturday in the NHRA event, clocking in with a run of 6.532 seconds (211.46 mph). Busch will face (5th-fastest) Erica Enders in first-round eliminations. Sunday action can be seen at 6:00 pm/et on ESPN2.(Kurt Busch site)(3-13-2011) UPDATE: Shell-Mopar Dodge Pro Stock driver Kurt Busch achieved his goal of making the starting field in today’s 42nd annual Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals here at Gainesville Raceway. However, Busch lost out in the first round of today’s eliminations in NHRA Full Throttle competition. “It was great side-by-side racing,” Busch said of today’s run against Erica Enders, where he came up just a tick short of advancing to the second round. Enders clocked in with an elapsed time of 6.538 seconds (211.69 mph) to Busch’s 6.541 seconds (211.59 mph). “Congrats to Erica. She can really wheel a car, that’s for sure.” “What an experience this whole weekend has been,” Busch said. “I can’t think my crew and Allen Johnson Racing enough for everything they have done for me this weekend. I want to extend a special thanks to the NHRA officials and sponsors, to the media and to all the competitors for the great hospitality I was shown during this memorable weekend. And, of course, thanks to all the great fans both in NASCAR and NHRA that have supported me so much in this endeavor and throughout my career. I’ve had a wonderful weekend off here with my drag racing friends. Now it’s time to hunker down and get back into the Cup mode. We have a test scheduled at Gresham on Tuesday and head back to Bristol next weekend looking for our sixth career win there.”(Kurt Busch site)(3-13-2011)
