#51- Kurt Busch finished 3rd in the Toyota / Save Mart 350 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Sonoma. Late in the race, Busch clipped a tire barrier in Turn 11 with his #51 Phoenix Construction Services Chevy, which ultimately allowed #14-Tony Stewart to pass him and capture the runner-up finish. Remarkably, with a broken suspension and real panel bar due to the tire incident, Busch still managed to bring his Chevy home in third place. Some comments by Kurt Busch during the post-race press conference about the race at Sonoma and finishing third.
KURT BUSCH: It was just a full weekend of road racing. It was a solid day yesterday and even better day today. You know, to have a nice, steady pace, and to have a smooth pit strategy for my Phoenix Racing guys, I thought I could deliver for them. We were in contention. We made it all the way to the final restart, and today with all of those long green flag runs, I thought the race would play into our favor. Our car is a little better on longer runs than Bowyer, but he did a great job. I just kept thinking, ‘He’s a dirt late model racer from the Midwest; there’s no way he’s going to be able to run the road course.’ And he did. He did great. That car and our car, I think we separated ourselves from the pack today. Thanks to Kyle and KPM yesterday; to get me back and forth on a nice, private jet that allowed me to rest up and be prepared for today. Yesterday was not quite the day we needed. We needed one more car with the Monster Energy car to get up there with the nix and get that Top 5 finish or even battle with Nelson Piquet, who is a friend of mine. It’s amazing to see a Formula 1 guy come in and win right away in a Nationwide car. The Nationwide race was stacked yesterday. And of course, everybody wants to be in Cup, because this is where the best racers race.
Today we came home third. Chevrolet and Monster Energy and tag his or her, our three big brands with us this year I ‘m a bit choked up. I just made a little mistake there in turn 11. Those tires have never been bolted down, ever and I clipped a set of tires and it broke the front suspension and the rear panel bar and I couldn ‘t compete for the win after that; so a mistake there. Our guys, but if we pulled it into victory lane with all red car and no sponsor, here in California, I thought it was Team Tiger Blood with Charlie Sheen around (laughter).
Q. Why are you so emotional about this effort?
KURT BUSCH: When you show up and you ‘re on a third of the budget and you almost bring it to victory lane, you can ‘t say that one guy does it out here. It takes a full team effort. But I really want to deliver for my guys today, and being that close, and make one mistake, it’s a tough game. That’s why it’s Sprint Cup.
Q. Considering you won last year and how well you ‘ve done this year, it looks like it’s got to be the driver.
KURT BUSCH: It’s definitely not the driver. You know, a lot of thanks has to go to Penske Racing and the commitment that they gave to me to help me on road courses and all of the testing we did to arrive at this point; I can ‘t pat myself on the back too much. But there was a car on the front row with my setup from last year, and there was a 48 car out there with my setup. Hendrick Motorsports is a great organization. They give us engines and chassis. This weekend we wanted to help them with a bit of set up notes.
Q. Two weeks ago you were almost not in the car; what does this mean to run like you did today?
KURT BUSCH: If I can get my head on straight here and after the race, then I ‘m able to race every weekend and go for victories.(in part from Team Chevy PR)(6-25-2012)
