Kurt Busch Reaches Goal Of Making Field In His First NHRA Pro Stock Race
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (March 13, 2011) -- 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, the 2004 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion and 22-race winner 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.”
In the most highly-publicized battle here today, Enders and Busch were the third pair gridded together in Pro Stock eliminations. Enders got the starting line advantage and claimed the win by a 0.0311 second (approximately 10 feet) margin of victory. Enders had a 0.021 reaction time to Busch’s 0.049. All NHRA insiders trackside agreed that Busch had a good light and real nice pass in his Pro Stock eliminations debut.
Busch’s run saw him tied for fifth-best ET of the round and he posted the sixth-fastest speed of the round. Busch’s effort came only a few minutes after his teammate, Allen Johnson had problems off the line and lost to Greg Stanfield.
“What an experience this whole weekend has been,” Busch said. “I can’t thank 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,” said Busch, currently tied for the Sprint Cup points lead. “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.”
