Countdown to Daytona: Owner Point Style No. 19 (Kurt Busch)

Good Monday morning fellow NASCAR fans. It’s Day 19 of my 35 part series previewing each of the teams guaranteed a spot in the season opening Daytona 500 next month.

The days are counting down, and before we know it, we’ll hear those engines roaring and smell them gas fumes bubbling—the best kind of headache you can get!

Today, we take a look at a team that showed so much promise last year, yet failed to make the Chase.

The No. 2 Penske Dodge, driven by Kurt Busch, opened the season with a runner-up finish in the Daytona 500. Busch, in case you forgot, pushed teammate Ryan Newman to the checkered flag, and things were looking great for the manufacture as they sat first and second in points.

It was short lived, however, and Dodge failed to put a car in the top-12 playoff.

Busch will be looking to rebound from a solid, yet disappointing, points finish last year, and will look to do so along new teammate David Stremme.

Here is a look at the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge:

Today’s Spotlight: No. 2

Team: Penske Racing

Driver: Kurt Busch

Sponsor: Miller Lite
Miller Brewing
Miller Time

For a look at paint schemes visit Jayski.com.

Driver 2008 Stats: Busch finished 18th in the points last season—his worst showing since a 25th place finish his rookie year. He earned more than $4.4 million with one visit to Victory Lane, 10 top-10 finishes and five top-fives. Busch averaged a finish of 21st.

News: There isn’t much news out of the Penske Stable these days. The only major announcement related to the team included the Ganassi Dodges switching manufactures in their merger with Dale Earnhardt Inc.

With Ganassi leaving the manufacture, Dodge officials are optimistic that it will provide additional funding for the teams that have remained. The only two competitive teams left with the Dodge logo are Penske and the newly formed Gillett-Petty team.

It should be interesting to see if the additional funding Dodge can provide to its smaller number of teams, helps get the manufacture back to the competitive side.

My Prediction for 2009: Lets face it, Dodge has really struggled, and those problems will continue into 2009. Busch showed promise at certain tracks, such as Daytona, but lacked the consistency of running up front every weekend.

In 2009, things will be much of the same for the Penske driver, as he’ll drive his way to a final points ranking of somewhere in the neighborhood of 15th to 19th.

Will this team remain in top-35: Sure will. This team performs well at some of the first couple tracks and will put themselves solidly in the top-35 heading into Martinsville.

Up Tomorrow:No. 12 David Stremme

This story also appears on my blog: Sports 101

Reminder: Only 19 days until the Budweiser Shootout!

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