Stewart Eyes Busch Experience

Stewart has competed in 11 Busch Series races this series with Kevin Harvick Inc, but none with his current Cup team or crew chief Greg Zipadelli.

Stewart reckons that because Lowe's Motor Speedway has been grinded since the series last visited the track in May, then the extra time working together in the Busch race will help them maintain their Championship lead after the Cup race.

"It definitely gives us an opportunity to take what we learn from the Busch car and apply it to the Cup car," Stewart said. "Greg will see it first-hand, versus a situation if I was driving for a different team where Greg would learn what the car was doing from what I told him.

"With Zippy being right there and able to work on both cars, it's something that even though will be hectic and very busy for us, it'll be something we can take advantage of."

During the official test session at the track last month, Stewart's testing time was limited after a crash into the Turn Two wall just 30 minutes into the test.

"Just being able to be on the track more is a good thing," Stewart added. "Considering the track is a different race track from the one we raced on in May, it's certainly an advantage. What we learn on one side of the garage area will help us on the other side and vice versa."

After the grinding of the 1.5 mile-oval, track officials dragged old truck tyres around the surface to embed some more rubber into the racing lines.

"They dragged tyres for four days and got a lot of rubber in the track and it seemed to have helped it quite a bit.

"As far as the track being real sensitive to the groove, I don't think it's near as bad as what it was when the Cup cars tested there. It's a lot better. But with that, we're running wicked fast speeds there right now."