* The Penske way: Kurt Buscch and Ryan Newman look to add to owner Roger
Penske's home state legacy
 
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (June 13, 2006) -- After five months of hard knocks and
hard luck, Penske Racing South may find its cure-all this week at Michigan
International Speedway.
 
Drivers Kurt Busch (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge) and Ryan Newman (No. 12 Alltel
Dodge) haven't posted typical results thus far as the series prepares for
Sunday's 3M Performance 400 presented by Post-it Picture Paper at Michigan.
But they can claim local comforts. Both drivers are Michigan winners whose
teams are owned by racing icon Roger Penske, a Michigan native and
Detroit-area resident. Penske, who owned the Michigan track from 1973 until
July 1999, has five series wins there. And both Busch and Newman excel on
their boss' former turf.
 
"There's always a sense of pride when you get to go race at Michigan Speedway
because of the auto manufacturers, and my team owner, of course," Busch said.
"It's really a fun race track where you can run four wide, three wide, choose
any lane that you want out on the race track, and it really leaves it up to
the driver, and that's what the drivers always look forward to."
 
Busch -- in his first season at Penske Racing South after five seasons with
Roush Racing -- has had to adjust to a new team, new crew chief Roy McCauley
and a new teammate in Newman. He's also succeeding retired series champion
Rusty Wallace in one of NASCAR's most recognizable cars, thus the full plate
and uneven performances.
 
Yet Busch already owns one Michigan win -- June 2003 -- and jumped one spot
in the series standings to 17th following Sunday's second-place finish at
Pocono. He has four top-10 finishes in 10 career starts at Michigan.
 
"There's been a tremendous amount of help with getting the aero balance
correct and with the general, I guess you could say, setup characteristics,"
Busch said of his conversations with Newman. "Both of us have won there. We
each know how to get around the race track.
 
"But when we sit down and talk about it, he lets me know things he's done in
the past, and I let him know of some small things that I've done and the two
of us can make each other better. So I believe the team communication is
going very well, as well as the driver communication to help us both do
better."
 
Newman is similarly accomplished at Michigan, with two wins -- August 2003
and June 2004 -- and four top-five finishes in nine starts. He's also in the
midst of what may be the most perplexing of his five seasons at Penske. His
11th-place finish at Pocono boosted him one spot in the series standings to
18th, behind his teammate, and like Busch, he's anticipating a return to one
of his favorite tracks.
 
"This is the track my dad would take me to when I was young to watch the
races," Newman said. "It's almost like a home track to me because it's so
close to where I grew up in South Bend, Ind."
 
##MMR 2.61(beta). 


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