Kurt Busch: 'I’m going to turn our Harley J. Earl trophy into the Stanley Cup'
HAMPTON, Ga. – After a crazy week of media obligations across the country, 2017 Daytona 500 champion Kurt Busch arrived at Atlanta Motor Speedway a little confused.
“I don’t even know what day it is,” Busch joked during his media availability Friday morning.
Now it’s back to work for the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing team as they look ahead to Sunday's Fold of Honors QuikTrip 500 (2 p.m. ET, FOX), but not before Busch devised a creative plan for his newest piece of hardware – the Harley J. Earl Daytona 500 Trophy.
“I realized that there are only two trophies from Victory Lane and you cannot get replicas of the Harley J. Earl trophy,” Busch said. “They only make two. That’s what so significant and powerful about this trophy.”
Busch noted that on is at team owner Gene Haas’ Haas Automation CNC headquarters in Oxnard, California. The second one, which belongs to Busch, is at the Stewart-Haas Racing shop in Kannapolis, North Carolina.
“All the crew guys have been taking selfies with it and pictures,” Busch added.
Since there aren’t enough trophies to go around for Busch to give, he’s devised an alternative plan based on how NHL teams show off the Stanley Cup championship trophy.
“I’m going to get the nice carrying case that goes with it, and I’m going to send it out on a tour,” Busch said. “I’m going to turn our Harley J. Earl trophy into the Stanley Cup.”
“It’s going to go make events here and there because I wanted to get replicas for Ford, Monster Energy, myself and whom ever is significant enough to get a replica.”
Conveniently, Busch has the perfect place to start his special tour as the Monster Energy Cup Series makes its way to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the third race of the season next weekend.
“The first visit after SHR’s race shop is Las Vegas so the fans of my hometown can see it,” he said. “Then we’ll send it over to Corona, California so it can hang out at the Monster headquarters for a little while.”
