Hornish Jr. gets owner points from teammate Busch
By Jeff Gluck - Associate Editor
Thursday, January 10, 2008
- TEXT SIZE: Increase Text Size Decrease Text Size Reset Text Size
- No Comments. Leave a Comment
- Digg This
- Add to Del.icio.us
- RSS Feeds
Chris Graythen / Getty Images
SCENE ON THE CIRCUIT
Anyone looking for Kurt Busch’s hauler at the track early in the season might want to consider investing in a pair of hiking shoes.
Busch’s blue No. 2 Miller Lite hauler won’t be anywhere near the front of the garage, nor close to the other drivers with whom Busch contended in last year’s Chase.
Since agreeing to give his seventh-place owner points to new Penske Racing teammate Sam Hornish Jr., Busch’s No. 2 team will be treated like a team entering the sport for the first time.
Busch and his crew will park last, go through technical inspection from the back of the line and won’t have a roof over their heads in the garage area for some races. All those privileges are awarded based on owner points – points Busch no longer has.
“[Working with no garage stall] will be an adjustment, especially when it’s 30 degrees out at Atlanta,” Busch said. “I feel bad for the guys. I’ll be in charge of the hot cocoa machine that day, I’m sure.”
On the other hand, expanding to three teams is a positive for Penske as a whole, and Busch said he was “honored” to help Hornish, who will now have a guaranteed spot for the first five races of 2008. If Busch fails to qualify on speed for a race, he can rely on his past champions provisional.
“Steps have to be made, and one of those is to get Sam in the races,” Busch said.
Latest Headlines
Team president Tim Cindric said the points swap was “part of the game.”
“It made all the sense,” he said. “The key to the situation was to make sure that it was a positive internally. Kurt and [crew chief Pat] Tryson, they knew that was the game and that was the best move for us as an organization.”
Former Morgan-McClure Motor-sports crew chief Chris Carrier was selected to guide Hornish through his rookie season. Carrier started work at Penske on Jan. 2, and was impressed immediately.
“It’s easy to see, even in one day, why this company is so successful and why this company is so well-respected,” he said.
Carrier felt loyal to Morgan-McClure after five years with that company and its No. 4 team, but when the future there seemed uncertain, he knew it was in his best interests to make a move.
“The decision to do this was bittersweet,” Carrier said. “That was my home.”
Getting Busch’s owner points didn’t sway Carrier to take the job, but he said he was relieved to get locked into the first five races.
If the No. 77 team didn’t end up getting those points, Carrier said he would “bite my tongue and stomp a little bit, but it’s not any ground I haven’t walked on.”
That’s because Carrier believes he may have been involved in more races outside the top 35 than any other crew chief – a life he described as “heart attack city.”
But having gone through that stress and surviving the ups and downs were qualities that helped him land at Penske.
“He’s got a lot of experience with guys that are running in the 30th-40th situation,” Cindric said. “Not that we plan to be there, but we needed a leader that wasn’t going to push the panic button. Sam needs a personality that is steady. It’s chemistry.”
– Bob Pockrass contributed to this story
- Mentioned Drivers:
- Kurt Busch
No Comments
Be the first to comment on "Hornish Jr. gets owner points from teammate Busch". Login or sign up for a free account below to post your comment