| By Mark Spoor, NASCAR.COM
May 4, 2006
02:39 PM EDT (18:39 GMT)
The last time the Nextel Cup Series was at Richmond International Raceway, Kurt Busch ended the evening by kissing the start/finish line just before cruising into Victory Lane. He could use that type of ending Saturday night in the Crown Royal 400 (7 p.m. ET, FX)  |  | | Credit: Autostock |
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| Inside the Numbers |
| Kurt Busch in 2006 |
| Track |
Start |
Finish |
Rank |
| Daytona |
13 |
38 |
38 |
| Fontana |
1 |
16 |
25 |
| Las Vegas |
6 |
16 |
22 |
| Atlanta |
9 |
37 |
27 |
| Bristol |
9 |
1 |
16 |
| Martinsville |
9 |
11 |
14 |
| Texas |
7 |
34 |
17 |
| Phoenix |
7 |
24 |
17 |
| Talladega |
5 |
7 |
16 |
|
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After his seventh-place run at Talladega on Monday, Busch -- the 2004 Nextel Cup champion -- finds himself 16th in the series standings, 102 points behind 10th place Dale Jarrett and 430 points back of leader Jimmie Johnson. Despite his win there last September, RIR hasn't been too kind to Busch. He has just one other top-10 run there and his average finish is a less-than-robust 18th in 10 career starts. Busch attributes most of that to bad luck. "The place certainly had my respect because it had bitten us so many times before," Busch said. "It's a tough track to win on and it seemed like we'd had everything go wrong at one time or another to take our chances of winning away. "Maybe as a rookie, I had just written the place off. We'd had races where we ran out of gas while leading with only eight laps to go, races that we had lug nuts get stuck in the brake caliper while leading and even had fan belts come off the car while we were leading. "It's definitely a tough racetrack, but it's also becoming one of my favorites. It was definitely on my hit list. We'd already won races at Bristol and Martinsville and by winning at Richmond, we've won races on all the short tracks." Busch added that the strong history of the No. 2 car at Richmond forged by Rusty Wallace -- six wins, 22 top-five finishes and 29 top-10 finishes in 44 starts -- should serve him well. "Rusty was known for his success at Richmond almost as much as he was known for dominating at Bristol like he did through all the years," Busch said. "We won at Bristol back in March and showed that we could live up to those great expectations. We're hoping we can get back to Richmond this weekend and keep all that momentum going." NASCAR on FOX took home three Emmys Monday night, earning honors for Outstanding Technical Team Remote, Outstanding Live Event Audio/Sound and Outstanding Live Sports Series. The awards for Technical Team Remote and Live Event Audio/Sound were accepted by Jerry Steinberg, VP of field operations, while NASCAR on FOX Director Artie Kempner accepted the trophy for Outstanding Live Sports Series. Burney Lamar, Sterling Marlin and Denny Hamlin are the guests scheduled for Trackside this week from Richmond (11 p.m. ET Fri., SPEED). If you're going to Richmond, the show will be taped at 2 p.m. local time Also, Jerry Nadeau is among the guests for Saturday's NASCAR Raceday broadcast (5:30 p.m. ET, SPEED). In this week's "Ask the Producer" question, several fans want to know what happened to discussion with drivers from inside their cars during pace laps. NASCAR on FOX producer Neil Goldberg said time is of the essence. "We at FOX also love talking to the drivers over the radio," Goldberg said. "The prerace format has become so tight that at times it leaves very little time to squeeze it in without become a disruption to the driver. "We have had it planned many times this year only to have weather make the format even tighter. When rain or snow is in the forecast, NASCAR often moves the start of the race up by 10 minutes as it did in Talladega. In Talladega we had planned on talking to Carl Edwards during the pace laps. Unfortunately in 'Dega we ended up with plenty of time to talk to drivers. With the limited amount of time to talk to the driver between the command to start engines and the green flag it often gets squeezed out." Nextel Cup Series: Crown Royal 400 Track: Richmond International Raceway • .75-mile oval
• 14-degree banking in corners
• 8-degree banking on frontstretch
• 2-degree banking on backstretch
• Frontstretch: 1,290 feet
• Backstretch: 860 feet Race length: 400 laps/300 miles TV schedule: (All times ET)
• Final practice: 1:30 p.m. Fri., SPEED (tape)
• NASCAR Live: 5:30 p.m. Fri., SPEED
• Bud Pole Qualifying: 6 p.m. ET Fri., SPEED
• Trackside: 11 p.m. Fri., SPEED
• NASCAR Raceday: 5:30 p.m. Sun., SPEED
• Pre-race: 7 p.m. Sat., FX
• Race: 7:40 p.m. Sat, FX One year ago, Kasey Kahne just beat Tony Stewart off pit road after all the leaders pitted under caution with about 67 laps to go. Kahne then gradually pulled away from Stewart on a restart with 61 laps remaining, and then again three more times to get his first Cup victory. The most recent checkered flag went to Jimmie Johnson, who snagged his second restrictor-plate victory in a row Monday in the rain-delayed Aaron's 499 at Talladega. Keep an eye on Dale Jarrett. A 12th-place run at Talladega put the 49-year-old Jarrett back in the top 10 in the Nextel Cup standings. Busch Series: Circuit City 250 Track: Richmond International Raceway • .75-mile oval
• 14-degree banking in corners
• 8-degree banking on frontstretch
• 2-degree banking on backstretch
• Frontstretch: 1,290 feet
• Backstretch: 860 feet Race length: 250 laps/187.5 miles TV schedule: (All times ET) • Busch Pole Qualifying: 4 p.m. Fri., SPEED
• Race: 7:30 p.m. Fri., FX One year ago, Carl Edwards beat Elliott Sadler during a green-white-checkered finish to deprive Sadler of a win in his home state. The most recent checkered flag went to Martin Truex Jr., who celebrated Dale Earnhardt Day by bringing the DEI No. 8 Chevrolet to Victory Lane at Talladega Superspeedway for the third consecutive year. Keep an eye on Jeff Burton, who will attempt to make his 250th NASCAR Busch Series start at Richmond. A South Boston, Va., native, he will drive a third entry for Richard Childress Racing, sporting a new sponsor, Holiday Inn. His 21 career victories are tied with Dale Earnhardt and Harry Gant for fifth all-time. | 
