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Kurt Busch and the Blue Deuce were supposed to be dead meat in the Sprint Cup Chase for the Championship.
Busch, the 2004 Sprint Cup champion, has had more distractions than any of the other 11 Chasers, after his crew chief, Pat Tryson, announced before the playoffs that he was leaving at the end of the season.So Penske Racing booted Tryson from most shop meetings and put an already testy relationship between Busch and his crew chief under more scrutiny.But a funny thing happened to Busch and what was supposed to be a 10-race ordeal. Three races into the Chase and Busch is still a title contender, sitting fifth in points and only 91 points behind leader Mark Martin."There are still plenty of guys that have a legitimate shot at this," said Busch, who drives the No. 2 Dodge. "And ours is still very high with our team at Penske Racing. We feel like the first couple of races have gone very well. To finish 11th at Kansas [last Sunday] was a bit off for us, but we struggled on pit road. We had loose wheels and the last adjustment we made on our Miller Lite Dodge didn’t allow us to take advantage of the double restarts at the end. So we still find ourselves in a great position."Busch, who won the first title under the Chase format, knows consistency is the key to winning a second title. A driver can afford maybe one mulligan if he’s to stay in the hunt. Two won’t cut it, especially with the top eight drivers separated by only 114 points with seven races remaining.He believed before the Chase started that an average finish of around seventh could get a driver a title. He was right on that number through the first three races, with finishes of sixth, fifth and 11th.He’s done that despite the crew chief concerns. Busch knows his days with Tryson are coming to an end and the search for a new crew chief must begin. But he’s not going to let that deter him from winning a title."Once we find ourselves out of position, which we hope we don’t, then we’ll look down that chapter," Busch said. "But for me, the ability to work with anybody, I think, it’s always been my strong point. "We do have to find the right guy to put into this position, because there’s such a high demand for us to do well, and we don’t want to take too much time having to crawl up to speed."Sunday’s Pepsi 500 at Fontana could be pivotal for Busch. He’s started on the pole three times in California and won in 2003. With the title field so crowded, Busch knows it’s now time to mash the gas if he wants a second title. "The game seems to have picked up a little bit," he said. "You have to run better than a seventh-place average finish if you want to find yourself in contention. So we’re going to have to bump this up and try to get our Miller Lite Dodge in Victory Lane in the next upcoming weeks to see what we can do to balance out the strong start from everybody else."Who’s hotIndyCar Series: The series couldn’t ask for anything more heading into Saturday’s Firestone Indy 300, the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti and Ryan Briscoe are separated by only eight points. Dixon and Franchitti are guaranteed the title if they win. Briscoe needs to win and a little help, but the drama is just what the open-wheel series needs.
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