BLOG: Music Stops, Kurt Doesn’t

It’s quasi-official now that the newest arrival at Stewart-Haas Racing is indeed Kurt Busch.

The 2004 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion will drive a Chevrolet, probably with the No. 00, for the team, which has ballooned to four cars for 2014. That means that the team now has four titles to its name—three for team co-owner Tony Stewart, one for Busch. 

It also means that Bad Boy Buggies ought to have a perfect partner for sponsorship.

I kid, I kid, though the team will probably lead the league in histrionics and tomfoolery next season.

The addition of Busch to the team was apparently the brainchild of the team’s other co-owner, Gene Haas, and sponsorship will likely be from Haas Automation, Gene’s company. That he was willing to do that for Busch and not Ryan Newman should tell you something. I don’t know what that is, but it’s something.

Newman has got to feel a little bit like he got catfished in this deal. He was told the team didn’t have the money to sponsor him for next season, let alone go up a car, and now here we are. As my good friend Jimmy White likes to say, “You’ll have that in big-time NASCAR auto racing.”

For Busch, it’s a chance to get out of small-team prison, and that’s not a slap on Furniture Row or any of the other smaller teams. By definition, Penske Racing is a small team, with just two cars, and they won it all last year.

Kurt Busch had the ride of a lifetime with Penske until his alligator mouth overloaded his hummingbird behind at Homestead. You don’t rip somebody like Jerry Punch on camera and expect it not to surface, even if you didn’t know you were being filmed.

Give it to him, he got Doc up one side and down the other, despite Punch being guilty of nothing but doing his job. Kurt has always had a bit of a temper (and yes, my tongue is planted firmly in my cheek), and this time it bit him in the backside. It’s not the first time either. 

Busch confirmed he had accepted the multi-year deal on Monday, and Furniture Row responded with a statement from Joe Garone, the team manager.

“It was always our intention to extend Kurt's contract with Furniture Row Racing. We made him an offer last week to to continue as the driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet in 2014 and beyond. Though he did not accept our offer we respect his decision and wish him future success. His driving skill and being a dedicated team player will always be appreciated at Furniture Row Racing. But for right now the main focus for Kurt and the team is to qualify for the Chase and contend for the 2013 Sprint Cup Series championship.

“Furniture Row Racing’s technical and engineering programs along with a talented road crew have made great strides this season, which have been evident with the consistently fast race cars that we have brought to the track week in and week out. We, along with our technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing, are deeply committed to continuing the work in progress. We are currently in a search process for a new driver in 2014, one who shares the same commitment and winning attitude that we all do at Furniture Row Racing.”

That last sentence stings a little, implying as it does that Busch didn’t, in fact, share the same commitment. I say he does…just more for himself and a return to the bigger teams in the sport than the commitment to making one-car FRR a powerhouse.

Can’t blame him, really, for trying to get back to where he was when his verbal foibles caused him to step on his own ambition. 

FRR’s little statement also wrecked the 2 p.m. press conference at SHR, where he’ll be introduced tomorrow. As Doris Day used to say, “que sera, sera.”