Kurt Busch won the race at New Hampshire on his way to the 2004 Nextel Cup championship. Credit: Autostock

Defending champ 'makes a statement' with win

If Kurt Busch wanted to show he is serious about defending his Nextel Cup Series championship, winning the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 on Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway was the best way to do it.

"Most definitely" it was a statement, Busch said.

Credit: Autostock

Results Chevy Rock & Roll 400 Pos. Driver Make 1. Kurt Busch Ford 2. Matt Kenseth Ford 3. Greg Biffle Ford 4. Kyle Busch Chevrolet 5. Rusty Wallace Dodge Complete results, click here Standings, click here Victory LaneKurt Busch celebrates his win at Richmond Bubble troubleEdwards gets wrecked and McMurray's day ends No drive for fiveJeff Gordon's ill-handling car gets knocked into the wall Bubble burst?Chase bubble driver Elliott Sadler spins on Lap 115 Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

"To be able to get a jump and jump into fifth place in points ... we were looking at different math going into this race," he said. "We were 35 points behind Mark Martin. If we could gain on those 35, then that would give us five more towards the Chase.

"Just to be able to put an exclamation point on Richmond was the biggest goal, but in hindsight, knowing that when you have a chance to win the last regular-season race, it just propels you right into the Chase."

Busch said a win heading into Loudon only adds to the team's confidence.

"Knowing that we have our 'A' car waiting for us back at the shop ready to go at New Hampshire, things are shaping up to look just the same as last year," Busch said. "With a little bit of racing luck and a little bit of staying on top of our game and not let the big picture get away, we could do the same thing we did last year."

That's bad news for the other nine drivers in the Chase with him. Of course, four of them are teammates at Roush Racing, so there's a little bit of an advantage right there.

Busch got a big jump on the title last year at NHIS, winning the race and putting pressure on those above him in the standings. Last year, Busch and crew chief Jimmy Fennig saved the bulk of their tests for the Chase, and it paid off with the title.

"We've saved our stuff just like we did last year," he said. "It's going to be a busy September and October with all of our testing. Look out, Kurt Busch is running. We're having a great time."

Even though New Hampshire is only the first of 10 races to decide the championship, it played a major factor last season. That was the race that pretty much eliminated Tony Stewart and Jeremy Mayfield from contention after Robby Gordon crashed Greg Biffle in front of them.

Getting off to a good start is the key to winning the Chase, Busch said.

"New Hampshire is key to getting a good start," he said. "You want that race to go smooth and to gain bonus points. Bonus points now can mean more than the top 10 positions because you can gain 100 points in the final 10 races and that was key to our victory last year.

"I'm looking forward to many tests at the mile-and-a-halves because those dominate the Chase races this year. At New Hampshire, we went from seventh to first in points last year. We're going to try to do that again. We're going to come from fifth, hopefully."

However, there are still unanswered questions about Busch's future now that he's signed to drive Roger Penske's No. 2 Dodge beginning in 2007. Team owner Jack Roush said that nothing has changed regarding Busch's request to be released from his contract a year early.

"Kurt has made a commitment to me that we agreed to and I made a commitment to him that he agreed to two years ago, and there's one more year left in it," Roush said. "It's my expectation he'd be in the car, unless something happens that I'm unaware of sitting here.

"But I am open to consideration realizing that there are a lot of things in play here. I've got commitments to sponsors and my sponsors have got an expectation based on the way they're set up for their marketing programs.

"Of course, there's an expectation that Roger Penske has for what he wants to try to do in the post-Rusty era, so there are a lot of things in play. Kurt is certainly a pawn in that, but I didn't put Kurt in play.

"I've got commitments for him and I made commitments to other people with regards to that and we're talking about it. To answer your question, I'm as certain as I can be without being certain."

That said, one thing is certain: Kurt Busch is running. The rest of the Chase contenders, look out.