NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Coca-Cola 600

Topics:  Coca-Cola 600

Kurt Busch
May 26, 2013

CONCORD, NORTH CAROLINA

THE MODERATOR: We'll get started with our post race press conference. We welcome Kurt Busch, our third‑place finisher.
Kurt, a lot of challenges out there for you tonight. Talk about your evening here at Charlotte.
KURT BUSCH: Well, it was a good 550 miles it seemed like for us, then the normal something has to pop up, some adversity we have to overcome came about. It came about this week in a dead battery.
I don't know, I'm a little shellshocked still, trying to find the exact words because I'm always judged on my reaction instead of my actual performance. So watch this.
It was a great run for our Furniture Row guys. We did the best we could with 600 miles, solid pit stops. The car was a little tight here, a little loose there. All in all, brought it home third. So congratulations to Harvick. They're teammates of ours. It's great to see information bridge over.
Happy for those guys to win. We got third. That's a good points night.
THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions.

Q. I know it must be frustrating to finish third. Once you get past the emotion of the evening, go to the team meetings, does this come away as a strong positive and another building block? You have as many top fives in this season as the team had in its entire existence before this year.
KURT BUSCH: That's been my struggle, not looking too far ahead and being frustrated with the night's events. Like when we rolled over at Talladega, to be upset in the infield care center, all that. It's tough when it happens. Then Tuesday you're over it and you move on.
Like you said, the team meetings will be a great time to discuss this weekend and the speed that we had, the overall showing. You don't get paid by driver ratings, you get paid by where you finish.
Yeah, a top five is great. To be up front, to lead laps, that's what it's all about. So we'll get these little hiccups polished up and continue plugging forward. That's the only thing we can do, is learn from what exactly happened, was it a cable issue, a battery that was dead, was the alternator not charging.
To show our strength tonight, to finish third, we'll take it. I think that's what needs to be said. The Furniture Row team was fast and we didn't quite have a perfect night and we brought it home third.
THE MODERATOR: Kurt, thank you very much for your time.
KURT BUSCH: Thank you.