Kyle Busch has three Busch Series starts in 2005, with a best of 11th at Las Vegas. Credit: Autostock

Friday the 13th won't foil Busch's Busch plans

Because the Funai 250 will be run on Friday the 13th, Kyle Busch may take a few extra precautions before he climbs into the No. 57 Chevrolet at Richmond International Raceway.

	KYLE BUSCH •   Driver Page •   2005 Stats

"I can't say I've ever had anything bad happen on a Friday the 13th when I was growing up, so I'm not too worried about that," Busch said. "I am a little superstitious, though. I don't know of many drivers who aren't.

"Mine are the same superstitions you usually hear about. I've never driven a car with the number 13 on it, and I've never driven a green car."

In addition, Busch doesn't like to count his victories in advance.

"One little superstition I have is I don't like for people to use the words 'win' or 'Victory Lane' around me on race day," he said. "A couple of years ago, we won a few races and the crew guys started saying stuff like, 'See you in the winner's circle,' or 'See you in Victory Lane.' Guess what? We didn't win another race that year."

And one thing you probably won't see in Busch's wardrobe again: Blue shoes.

"Jeff Green wore some one time in a Busch race at Daytona and ended up flipping down the front stretch, so he refuses to wear blue shoes," Busch said. "I had a pair last year and wrecked a couple of times when I was wearing them, so I got rid of them.

"Come to think of it, I've worn blue shoes in my last two Cup races and wrecked both times. Don't be surprised if you don't see me in them this weekend."

Busch wasn't supposed to defend last year's victory, but when he missed the field at Texas after a crash in qualifying, the team gave Spectracide a make-good this weekend.

"We were real fast in practice, and I thought we had a shot at the pole," Busch said. "I won the pole there last year, so I got a little greedy and wanted to do it again for the team and the sponsor. I ended up wrecking and didn't make the race.

"We wanted to make it up to Spectracide, so we sat down and looked at the schedule to see where we could run the No. 57 again. As soon as we saw Richmond, we all said, 'That's the one.' "