CONCORD, N.C. -- Steve Addington has always thrived under the lights at Charlotte Motor Speedway. When he was running Mike Bliss' then-Busch Series program in 2004, the crew chief brought his team to the big oval for two nights of testing. They hardly turned a wrench on the car from that point on, and outran Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson to win the 300-mile event that fall.

So Addington will be completely in his element Saturday, when the crew chief for Kurt Busch's No. 2 car will attempt to oversee an unprecedented sweep of the three Sprint Cup Series races at the 1.5-mile track. It's not so much Charlotte itself that falls right into Addington's wheelhouse, but Charlotte at night.

“

I love this place. I think it's awesome.

”

-- STEVE ADDINGTON on Charlotte

"When our car was at its best in the month of May was from about 8:30 p.m. and later," Busch said. "When we didn't have much speed [was] during the day. Even in practices, we didn't show the speed. What was exciting was when they were getting into the final segments of the All-Star Race, our car woke up, and that's about 10 p.m. The package that we have just seems to run better the cooler it gets."

That's roughly the same timeframe for Saturday's 500-miler, which is scheduled to begin a little after 7:30 p.m. Eastern time and go into what's expected to be a very cool night. Although Addington brought a new car to Charlotte -- most Chase teams are doing that every race -- the team used as a baseline setup the same approach they took in May, when Busch claimed the All-Star Race and the Coca-Cola 600 in successive weeks. Now their sights are set on the fall race and a trifecta that no driver, not even usual Charlotte aces Johnson and Kasey Kahne, has accomplished.

"I think we all know we'd love to do that for Kurt, so he can be the first guy to do that," Addington said. "We'd love to put that Miller Lite Dodge down there in the [NASCAR] Hall of Fame for a few weeks. That would be just really cool for everyone in the Penske organization. That's something that we all want to do."

The key, Addington said, is not getting frustrated during daytime practices where the car performs differently than it would at night. Looking back on his 2004 victory with Bliss, he remembers daytime practices that followed those two evening tests, and the willpower it took to not make any adjustments on the vehicle. They didn't, and once darkness fell the car was as good as they thought it would be. This week, Busch was only 22nd-fastest in opening practice Thursday afternoon, but Addington liked the balance on the car and believed Friday night's final practice would give him a truer indication of what he had for the race. (Continued)