Mooresville, NC | 09-12-2005

After picking up his first career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series event in California Speedway four days earlier, Kyle Busch headed to Richmond International Raceway (RIR) to jump in the No. 15 Ditech.com Chevrolet Silverado in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.  Busch hoped the streak would continue with the running of the Cheerios Betty Crocker 200, but with 12 laps remaining, a tire went down sending the Billy Ballew Motorsports-entry hard into the turn two wall, eliminating their chances for a top-10 finish.

Thursday’s events started with two practice sessions for the numerous trucks on site at RIR.  Busch struggled with the handling on the Chevy Silverado with his first laps on the track.  Crew chief Richie Wauters called for several changes to the shocks, springs and track bar.  Nothing seemed to work quite right, as Busch still complained of a tight condition.  Following practice, Wauters and the Billy Ballew Motorsports team threw everything they could think of to help cure the tightness Busch felt while in the No. 15 Ditech.com Chevrolet.

“We aren’t quite where we want to be right now,” said Busch after practice.  “We started out not too good, then made a few changes and got better, then made a few more changes and were worse again.  But there at the end, we got the truck pretty much where we needed it to be and then we made a couple qualifying runs and were happy with those.”  Busch went out 41st to qualify and laid down a lap to position him 27th on the starting grid.  For the first time all day, Busch noted the truck was loose during qualifying.

Throughout the race, Busch drove the No. 15 Ditech.com Chevrolet around in the high groove.  The truck would just not handle well enough to use the bottom line.  “I wish I had more laps down on the bottom,” said Busch during caution number two on lap 22.  “I’m a little tight on the bottom.”  Wauters and Busch discussed changes they would make when they made their first pit stop.  They pitted during the fourth caution period for four tires, fuel, and an air pressure adjustment.  The change in air pressure caused the truck to get tighter, but Busch kept digging and by lap 88 was up to the 15th position.  Another caution on lap 94 allowed the No. 15 to come back down pit road for more adjustments.  Still fighting a tight condition, Busch went a lap down on lap 139 after a long green flag run and fought hard to stay the first truck one lap down to become the “lucky dog” recipient when the caution waved on lap 140.  Busch pitted once again for fresh tires and more chassis adjustments.

On lap 160, Busch was up to 18th position and radioed in to the guys, “This is as good as I can get this thing to go.”  Busch persevered and got up to 15th place.  With just 12 laps remaining in the 200-lap race, the right front tire blew on the No. 15 Ditech.com Chevrolet sending Busch into the wall and the line of oncoming traffic.  The damage was too severe to continue, ending the night for the Billy Ballew Motorsports team, placing them 30th in the final rundown.  The finish dropped the team to ninth in the points with seven races remaining on the 2005 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule.

“The tire went down,” said a dejected Busch.  “I didn’t want to risk it by going back out there and riding around for 10 laps.  We struggled all day with the No. 15 Ditech.com Chevrolet.  It wasn’t good anywhere.  I’d be loose in and get it better, then tight through the center, then loose off.  The front end was chattering.  I just didn’t know what it was going to do from one lap to the next. This was a brand new truck for us so we definitely have some work to do on it, but we’ll be ready to recapture our front-running consistency in Loudon next week.”

Billy Ballew Motorsports will head to Loudon, N.H. for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ next event at the New Hampshire International Speedway on Saturday, September 17.