On the Right Track
A NASCAR BLOG BY Jeff Gluck
Whatever happened to Kurt Busch?
Remember Kurt Busch? You know, the guy who won the 2004 Cup championship?
The guy who made the Chase last year and won two races?
The guy who finished second in this year's Daytona 500?
Busch is still one of the top five drivers in NASCAR in terms of talent, but this year he hasn't challenged for wins, run up front or made much noise at all en route to the 22nd position in points.
It's gotten so bad, Busch is mentioned more often for being Kyle Busch's older brother than for his success on the track.
That's a true shame. Given his talent, Kurt Busch deserves much better than to run 10th to 15th every week, which is all his cars have really been able to offer.
He certainly hasn't forgotten how to drive. But there's only so much a driver can do with equipment that doesn't allow him to race with the leaders.
It's surprising that Penske Racing hasn't made much of an impact with the new car. Penske has some of the top brains in the business, but it hasn't been able to do much for Busch this year.
Busch has no top-10s other than at Daytona, and he had finished 23rd or worse in five straight races until a 12th-place result at Darlington last week.
Why is that? It's likely Busch is wondering the same thing.
In NASCAR Scene's preseason predictions, 10 of 12 staffers predicted Busch would make the Chase. That seems like a longshot at this point.
But as Kyle Busch continues to dominate the headlines this season, it's worth remembering that there's another Busch who is just as capable of getting to victory lane.
Jeff Gluck
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Jeff Gluck has covered NASCAR since 2004. He has worked for NASCAR Scene as an associate editor since 2007.
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Comments
3 responses to "Whatever happened to Kurt Busch? ". Post a Comment.
Worm Dirt said:
May 15, 2008 at 4:05 PMProbably doesn't explain Kurt's troubles on the track, but when you implant a coporate-engineered micro-chip into the brain of a racer, there will always be a transition period. I just hope that Kyle CONTINUES to resist the "Call of the Herd" and doesn't start trying to become someone that he is NOT. Worse than any outburst or tantrum that Kurt has had on the track, is his transparant and commercially motivated painful-to-watch evolution into a public-relations-trained corporate yes-man.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportJason Boyd said:
May 16, 2008 at 3:06 AMKurt was in the Chase last year? Wow! He really has fallen off the map!
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This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse ReportAnonymous said:
May 19, 2008 at 8:36 AMWhat the heck happened at the end of the All Star race? He was running fairly well, next thing we know, he's all the way at the bottom of the heap!
Report as AbuseSelina
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