Mooresville, NC | 10-24-2005

Although Kyle Busch has a limited number of laps at Martinsville Speedway, it sure didn’t show in Saturday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS) race as he and the No. 15 ditech.com Chevrolet started on the outside pole, never ran outside the top-10 and completed the Kroger 200 in fifth position.  The fifth place finish vaulted the Billy Ballew Motorsports team to fifth in the NCTS Owners’ Points standings with four races remaining in the 2005 season.

Prior to entering this past weekend’s event, Busch had only competed at the half-mile oval once before earlier this season in his NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series vehicle.  With one practice session slated for Friday morning, Busch and the No. 15 team worked on perfecting the setup on the ditech.com Chevrolet.  The truck was tight during practice and the team made several changes with shocks, springs and other chassis adjustments.  Busch was also concerned about the brakes in his truck so the crew replaced the brake pads before sending the No. 15 back out onto the track.

Busch went out for qualifying and was timed at 19.800 secs., placing him on the outside pole alongside pole sitter Rick Crawford, who ran a lap of 19.732 secs.  “We tried a lot of unconventional changes for Martinsville that normally don’t work at other tracks,” said Busch following qualifying.  “I don’t like to be tight but I don’t want to be loose either.  The front end was sliding a bit and I drove it in too deep, but I arched it in and drove it off.  To end up second to Rick Crawford is nothing to hang our heads about.  He laid down one heck of a lap.”

Following the drop of the green flag, Busch was able to slide in behind Crawford to maintain the second position.  After the first caution on lap eight, Busch drove the No. 15 ditech.com Chevrolet to the lead on lap 18 and held on to the top spot until lap 46.

“I figured I was aero-tight behind the No. 14 (Crawford) so it was best that I got around him to fix that,” said Busch on the radio during caution number two.  Busch also radioed in that the truck was still tight in the center and loose off, the same conditions that plagued him during practice.  When the third caution came out on lap 55, crew chief Richie Wauters called for Busch to bring the No. 15 in for four tires, fuel and wedge and trackbar adjustments.  The crew executed a fast stop, getting Busch back out in the same position he came in.  Busch, along with then leader Ted Musgrave, looked to make their way back up to the front pack.

“Every time I pressure the No. 1 (Musgrave), he knocks somebody out of the way.  It’s awesome,” said Busch following the first round of stops, as the No. 15 ditech.com made its way up to the fourth position by lap 80.  Caution number four was on lap 103 and Busch came down pit road again for sticker tires and some more wedge and trackbar adjustments.  He restarted in eighth position and by lap 150 was up to fifth place again.  Busch was having trouble getting around the trucks ahead of him, though he was two to three tenths quicker than them.  Not wanting to push the issue, Busch rode behind the top-four until the end of the race.

“We did a good job today in the No. 15 ditech.com Chevrolet,” said Busch following the race.  “It was way too tight in the center, but I had a good drive off the corners.  It was hard to get under somebody because we would all get on the gas at the same time and I wasn’t able to get them going into the turn.  We were definitely better and faster than those ahead of us, but we weren’t able to pass them.  It is such a tight one-groove race track.  You have to move somebody around and cause them to make a mistake just to pass them.  We’ll get us another one (win) before this year’s done.”

Busch completes the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season with Billy Ballew Motorsports in the No. 15 Chevrolet.  Their next race is this coming Saturday at Ballew’s home track, Atlanta Motor Speedway.