· The Tales of the Turtles 400 will mark Kurt Busch’s 603nd career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series start and his 17th career NASCAR Cup Series start at Chicagoland. Busch has two top-five finishes and nine top-10s at the 1.5-mile oval. Additionally, the 39-year-old driver has led 104 laps, has an average starting position of 19.1, an average finish of 15.4, and has completed 93.4 percent (3,995 of 4,278) of the laps he’s contested there.
· Busch has career total totals of 29 wins, 21 poles, 130 top-fives, 256 top-10s and 8,874 laps led in 602 starts.
· His most recent Cup Series win came 26 races ago in the Daytona 500 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway (Feb. 26).
· His last Cup Series pole came 58 races ago at Las Vegas Motor Speedway(March 4, 2016).
· Busch’s best finish at Chicagoland came in 2015, when he came home third. Busch overcame a flat tire on lap 86 and a green-flag pit stop that put him a lap down to still contend for the win. However, a late-race caution took away what appeared to be a sure win and an automatic advance into the next round of the playoffs for Busch and the No. 41 team.
· While Busch only has two top-five finishes at Chicagoland, he has nine top-10s. Each of those have either come by placing sixth or eighth, with the exceptions being the fourth-place finish he scored in 2013 and third-place result in 2015.
· The Las Vegas native has 21 career Sprint Cup poles. Busch has never won a pole at Chicagoland. His best start there is second – in July 2002.
· In his lone NASCAR Xfinity Series start at Chicagoland on July 8, 2006, Busch started third and finished sixth driving the No. 39 entry for Penske Racing. Busch also has a third-place finish at Chicagoland in his lone International Race of Champions race at the 1.5-mile racetrack.
· Thus Far in 2017 – Busch has accumulated one win, five top-five finishes and 13 top-10s in 26 starts.
· Get to the Points – With his fourth-place finish Saturday at Richmond (Va.) Raceway, Busch enters the playoffs at Chicagoland 12th in the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings with 2,005 points and is 48 behind series leader Martin Truex Jr. |