iNSIDE SCOOP: The Long Way ‘Round

 Kurt Busch has been with four different teams in the last four seasons, and his career was roadkill at so many points during that time it wasn’t funny.

After getting bus-chucked from Team Penske for being…well, himself (on live national television to a much-revered reporter in front of millions) he hooked on with Phoenix Racing the season after. Then he transferred to the Furniture Row team and took that team to the Chase last year.

Gene Haas called and said, “come over to my place, win races and have some fun.”

He went.

On Sunday, the first stop on the road back to respectability was reached: Victory Lane at Martinsville Speedway.

To do it, he had to pass the acknowledged master of Martinsville, Jimmie Johnson, and keep him from taking it back. He did. People forget that Busch has always been very good at Martinsville, from his days at Roush Fenway Racing.

But it was never about Kurt Busch’s skill behind the wheel. It was always about his temper, his mouth and his inability to keep either one in check when he absolutely needed to.

On Sunday, that temper flared early, in a pit-road dustup with Brad Keselowski and the subsequent payback from the terminally ticked-off former champion. Busch even went so far as to promise his team that once the race was over, he’d get to Keselowski and smack him in the bleeping mouth.

In the old days, that would have been it. He would have just buckled under the waves of anger and frustration and done stupid stuff, said stupid stuff. He still might, but that’s beside the point. As of tonight, he’s a winner again.

The Grateful Dead had a song, “Truckin’,” that has the line: “Lately it occurs to me what a long strange trip it’s been.”

That’s the last four seasons for Kurt Busch. He’s smart enough, and humble enough now, that he can appreciate that line.

“I'm going to soak this in,” he said after the race. “This is an unbelievable feeling, to get back to victory lane after this tour that I've been on, to find this opportunity with Stewart Haas, and to win, it means the world to me. 

“That's what I've always driven for was just going for the wins and you let the rough edges drag on the other side.  You get compared to guys that are sponsor dreams and they've won one or two races, and now to hear that I have 25 wins and to have a championship and to hoist a trophy at a track that I would draw a line through this track every time I'd show up not ever having a shot to win because it was one of my worst tracks.  So it shows what teamwork is all about.”

Teamwork was never the first thing out of Kurt Busch’s mouth. The old Kurt, that is. The new Kurt made a point of emphasizing that tenet.

“That's what I want everybody to take away from today is teamwork.  What better way to win than using that old cliché, can't beat 'em, join 'em.  I've got a Hendrick chassis and a Hendrick motor prepared by Stewart Haas Racing, and we brought our No. 41 car home to victory lane.”

The victory is symbolic of the journey he’s been on. He went from hot dog to roadkill in one offseason, and he spent the remaining years out in the cold. The lessons he learned are ones that we all have to learn at some point, and most o us usually learn them earlier than Kurt Busch did.

Let’s hope it sticks.