Kurt Busch hunting first victory at Daytona 500
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Kurt Busch is yet another driver with an unrequited relationship with the Daytona 500. He has raced well at the 2.5-mile restrictor-plate track, finishing second three times in the signature event of the NASCAR season.
He dutifully pushed Ryan Newman to the win in 2008 when each raced for Team Penske. He was the recipient of one of the late Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s last obscene gestures as a rookie in 2001. And last season he never got the chance to start, having been suspended by NASCAR after a Delaware family court commissioner issued a protective order against him for former girlfriend, Patricia Driscoll. As an appeal of an indefinite suspension was being held in NASCAR’s offices across International Speedway Boulevard from the track the night before the 500, his younger brother, Kyle, crashed into an unbuffered wall in an Xfinity Series race and broke his left leg and right ankle.
Busch, who didn’t watch the 2015 installment won by Joey Logano, doesn’t feel like the race owes him anything because of his absence last season. But he has been deeply disappointed at Daytona despite his proficiency in this unforgiving, aerodynamics- and strategy-dependent form of racing. And there he’d hope for some recompense.
“I think the first few times when I did finish second was, ‘Aw, I’ve got more to learn. I’ve got more to do and more things to understand about the race,’” Busch recalled. “And the year I helped Ryan Newman win, that was my maturity as well as experience level combining for that decision, to push him instead of trying to take a risk to go three wide to take the win away from us both. And so that was a big moment.
“I just haven’t had cars that were capable of winning through the early 2010s. I think this year is the best car I’ve ever had with (crew chief) Tony Gibson.”
Busch has led in only one of the three runner-up finishes — nine laps in 2008 — but was timed 0.092 seconds behind Newman, 0.158 behind Jeff Gordon in 2005 and under caution when Michael Waltrip won in 2003.
The lesson learned?
“Be more aggressive in the draft,” he said.
PHOTOS: Kurt Busch through the years