Busch and Vickers Earn Top-Five Starts at Memphis

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (Oct. 17, 2003) – The teenage duo of Kyle Busch and Brian Vickers qualified second and third during Sam’s Town 250 time trials at Memphis Motorsports Park on Friday. For the 13th time in 14 weeks, Vickers, driving the No. 5 GMAC Financial Services Chevrolet, qualified in the top 10, earning a third-place starting position for Saturday’s NASCAR Busch Series race at the .750-mile oval. Currently second in the driver standings behind David Green, Vickers and the GMAC team earned the best starting position of the five teams they are competing against for the championship. “It looked like for a while that Kyle and I were going to start 1-2,” Vickers said. “I’m happy for Kyle and hope we can have a good day on Saturday. “Qualifying up front ensures a good starting position, but it also affords you a good pit stall for the race which is very important on short tracks.” Busch, piloting the No. 87 ditech.com Chevrolet in just his fifth career Busch Series start, posted a lap of 119.137 mph. He has earned a top-five starting position in four of the five races he’s entered since joining Hendrick Motorsports in February. The second-place effort is a career-best for the 18-year-old. “Things worked out good for us (during qualifying),” Busch said. “I’d like to be starting one position better, but for now, I can deal with it. “We tested here a few weeks ago and I really think it paid off for qualifying. All we need is to be able to back up the qualifying run with a good finish in the race.” David Reutimann, driver of the No. 7 entry, captured the pole for Saturday’s event, posting a speed of 119.766 mph. Saturday’s Sam’s Town 250 is scheduled for a 3 p.m. ET start and will be broadcast live on TNT and MRN Radio.