Busch has win at M'ville, still can't figure out track

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- As he was introduced in the media center at Martinsville Speedway on Friday, it was mentioned that Kurt Busch had a total of 18 top-10 finishes at the venue in his career.

Um, wrong.

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"That's 18 starts," Busch said. "I wish I could say I've had that many top-10 finishes here."

Told shortly thereafter that he's actually had only four top-10 finishes at the .526-mile track in his 10-year Cup career, Busch grimaced and admitted: "That sounds more like it."

To say Busch has a love-hate relationship with Martinsville might not be entirely accurate. Despite winning the fall race there in 2002, he's never really embraced the place.

"It's a tough place," Busch said. "If you go to a Martinsville race track and expect not to run into something, then that's not going to be the case. You're always on top of somebody; somebody is always on top of you. There's no real room for error.

"If you have a bad pit stop after running in the top 10, you're going to get spit out about 30th. The way that this track races, it's like if we all went to Wal-Mart and set up Coke cans in the parking lot and just raced around the Coke cans. It's a tough, slick race track. It's got real tight corners and there is no other place on the circuit like it."

Busch went on to say that most drivers either love it or hate it. But he wouldn't definitively come down on either side of that fence -- at least not in public.

"I think that it's a great race track. We've been racing here since 1949," he said. "The cars used to not be able to finish a full 500 laps here. That's not the case anymore. The cars are very durable. The brakes last all day long.

"It's now a test of set-ups and who can get their car around the best. I've won here before. It's not my least favorite -- but it's definitely one of the most challenging tracks on the circuit."

Asked to clarify if that meant he loved it or hated it, Busch offered a sly grin and a non-response. "It's definitely one of the most challenging tracks on the circuit," he repeated.

To get to the truth, though, all one has to do is look at the numbers. In his past six races at Martinsville, his average finish is 26.1. In four of those six events, he finished 27th or worse -- including three of 31st or worse.

In an effort to turn those results around, Busch's No. 2 Dodge team spent considerable time recently testing at the Little Rock test track that is supposed to closely resemble Martinsville in Rockingham, N.C.

"I hope that all of our test runs at Little Rock will come into play," said Busch, who is fifth in points entering Sunday's Tums Fast Relief 500. "We ran over 1,000 laps at that little track, trying to prepare and come up with as many scenarios that we could get ready for Martinsville.

"We'll see how things will shake out. It's just one of those tracks where if you're struggling, you hope that the light bulb comes on and that you can turn the corner and make it a good weekend."

The No. 2 team hadn't quite rounded the corner as of Friday, when they were only 23rd-fastest in the only practice of the day and then qualified 37th out of the 43 cars.