Kyle Busch Hoping To Be a ‘Contender’ at Dover

With two races completed in the 2014 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship, one thing is for certain: Kyle Busch, crew chief Dave Rogers and the entire Interstate Batteries team have been “Outrageously Dependable” in the face of adversity.

So it’s only appropriate as the Sprint Cup competitors head to the third Chase race – Sunday’s AAA 400 at Dover (Del.) International Speedway – that Busch will have the Outrageously Dependable colors of Interstate Batteries along for the ride on his No. 18 Toyota.

In both the Chase opener two weekends ago at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois, and the second Chase race last Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, Busch and team fell behind, only to rally for top-10 finishes that have them fifth in the standings heading to the concrete mile oval at Dover this weekend.

In particular, Busch and his team showed their championship resolve last weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. After suffering heavy damage from a lap-187 accident, they never gave up, executing several pit stops over the final 100 laps to get Busch’s Camry in good enough shape to make it to the end. Not only did they make it, but the Las Vegas native made several spectacular three- and four-wide passes on the outside to vault himself from 20th to an eighth-place finish over the final seven circuits.

While satisfied with his solid start to the Chase, Busch will head to Dover – statistically one of his better tracks – in hopes of scoring a win, and thus an automatic bid to the Contender round as one of the final 12 drivers left in NASCAR’s playoffs.

The Dover stats for Busch and his Interstate Batteries team are impressive – two Sprint Cup wins, four NASCAR Nationwide Series wins and four NASCAR Camping World Truck Series wins.

But this weekend, Busch will try to keep the early Chase momentum going by shooting for his sixth top-10 finish in his last eight events at the racetrack known as the “Monster Mile.” Busch has led an impressive 1,011 laps in his previous 19 starts at Dover. Even more impressive is that, while wins have eluded Busch in the past three Sprint Cup races there, he has led 533 of a possible 1,200 laps completed in those races.

So as Busch and his Interstate Batteries team look to move on to the next round of the Chase, they will look to build on strong recent runs at Dover in hopes of closing the deal with their green-and-white-striped Interstate Batteries Camry Sunday afternoon on the Delmarva Peninsula. Not only does he want to be a contender during Sunday’s race, but also in the Contender round following Sunday’s 400-miler.

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