Photo: Stephen A. Arce/ASP, Inc.

Kurt Busch Brings Ganassi a Top Five at Kansas

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer

Chip Ganassi Racing may be closing their NASCAR chapter in two weeks, but Kurt Busch is determined of bringing home strong results. The 2004 champion was able to deliver a fourth-place outing in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.

It’s Busch’s second top-five in the last four races, improving his top-five total for 2021 to five and moved up to 10th in the championship standings. This comes after having two straight races of finishing outside the top-10.

A key role into Busch’s afternoon was a tremendous effort from his No. 1 AdventHealth Chevy crew, who got the job done. While he was in the race lead mix at one point, Busch felt the result left a lot to be desired. More so that it’s the first time he’s had AdventHealth as a primary sponsor since coincidentally at Kansas two years ago.

“We did everything right, we just didn’t combo it all together at the perfect time,” said Busch, who led 4 of 267 laps.

“Pit road was awesome. Matt McCall (crew chief) and all my guys, sticking together this late in the year with the team switching over. Just thank you to AdventHealth. I wanted to give them a good run and we were there.

“We did all of this right and it was so much fun racing right in the mix. It’s the little things that make the big difference. We freed it up on that last run; it got too tight. When you’re running with the big dogs, you have to do everything right.”

Busch will look to continue “chipping away” at Martinsville Speedway, a track he’s won twice (Fall 2002 and Spring 2014). In the last six Martinsville races, Busch has finished in the top-10 four times. His best result in that span was fifth last fall after leading 23 laps.

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From the Pacific Northwest, Luis is a University of Idaho graduate with a Bachelor's degree in Broadcasting and Digital Media and a four-time National Motorsports Press Association award winner in photography. Ever since watching the 2003 Daytona 500, being involved in auto racing is all he's ever dreamed of doing. Over the years, Luis has focused on writing, video and photography with ambitions of having his work recognized.