By Kevin Mills,Staff Writer
Scott Pullen and Steve Perry of SP2Motorsports are providing the ride for NASCAR rookie Kyle Busch this weekend.

OXFORD – It’s a pretty unique means of marketing.

When SP2 Motorsports agreed to provide a car for Kyle Busch in Sunday’s TD Banknorth 250, it wasn’t really for personal reasons. Sure, Scott Pullen and Steve Perry aren’t naive enough to think sponsoring a NASCAR Nextel Cup driver wouldn’t provide exposure for business, but it was the bigger picture they had in mind.

“I told Steve, If we have a chance to promote any type of auto racing for everybody, we should,'” said Pullen. “It will give us some sponsors that we never had. So it’s not totally for nothing, but it helps promote the sport.”

SP2 Motorsports will be sponsoring an entire weekend at Beech Ridge in Scarborough. It may work as a marketing tool for the Saco area business, but more importantly, it brings added attention to the sport. So partnering up with Busch this week serves the same purpose. The revitalized 250 has been aided by the appearance of Busch, his brother and Matt Kenseth the last two years. Pullen and Perry wanted to share in that.

“You’ve got to look at the big picture,” said Pullen. “To be involved in this, I feel like I’m lucky. It helps everybody.”

When Kurt Busch was unable to return to the 250 this year, his younger brother elected to take his spot. The 20-year old Kyle was matched up with Pullen and Perry, who are also in partnership with veteran racer Mike Rowe, who is shooting for a third 250 win and 150th overall win at OPS.

“This is an awesome piece right here,” said Busch about the car he tested Tuesday. “It’s a really nice car with a Howe chassis. I ran Howe in the ASA series. So I’m pretty familiar with what goes on with Howe and how things work. They’re really nice cars, and I’m enjoying coming up here and racing this thing with Mike’s team.”

Busch was in contact with SP2 Motorsports this spring, but the dialogue back-and-forth was limited. Busch sent up his personal seat for installment but otherwise left many of the details to SP2 Motorsports.

“Anybody who’s followed the Pass Tour knows what kind of car Mike’s had all year,” said Perry, who said that Rowe could have had the car Busch is using, but opted for his machine instead. “We’ve had a fast car everywhere. So you start with a baseline set up for Kyle. Kyle isn’t going to drive the same as Mike Rowe. So now we’re working on adjusting things and trying to get him more comfortable.”

Pullen and Perry, who teamed up as business partners last year, had purchased two new cars. One of them was destroyed at Thompson Speedway in Connecticut in April. That left this Lux Enterprises Chevrolet Monte Carlo for Busch. Jeff Taylor and Distance Racing Products built the car and had it ready earlier this month. It’s been out for a few test drives but didn’t get fully broken in until Tuesday.

“It’s been a little hectic, just because this came in later than we thought,” said Perry. “It was a little pressure packed, but we’ll be alright.”

Busch liked what he saw during testing and will be back Saturday to tweak things for Sunday’s race.

“I’ve been trying to overdrive the car a little bit to see what its limits are and what you can do with the race track,” said Busch. “I’ve been finding out that you can’t do too much outside the cars’ working area. So we’ll work more on that and raise that level and make it better.”

Saturday’s practice times will allow Busch to test the car in traffic and get it better suited to his racing style.

“Once the weekend shows up and Kyle gets around other cars and relies on Mike for more feedback, he’s going to get better, and he’s going to be right there,” said Perry. “The kid didn’t get where he is by not knowing how to adapt to a race track.”

What has made this partnership work so well already is the personal connection established with Busch.

“Kyle’s a very down to earth fella,” said Pullen. “He wasn’t pushy. He came in and said It’s good equipment. I like it.’ He can tell you what went wrong with the car and what happened. He listens. Mike took him out on the track and said This is what you’ve got to do.’ He’s not so conceited that he thinks he knows everything. I’m very happy to be partnered up with somebody like that.”

Still, there’s no question where their hearts lie Sunday. A Busch win would be great, but a Rowe win would be even better says Pullen.

“I’m going to go with my guy,” said Pullen, sporting a Rowe jersey. “Mike has experience here. He’s the sentimental favorite to win. He should have had No. 150 already, but we’ll take the 150th in the 250. Whether we win or take 32nd, we’re going to have the most fun out of everyone here, guaranteed.”