NASCAR Cup Series

Kurt Busch sets eyes on Gatornationals

Published Jan. 24, 2011 12:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Penske Racing’s Kurt Busch is taking on more challenges in racing. This year, he’ll attempt to make the 41st NHRA Full Throttle Series Gatornationals on March 11-13 at Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway.

While Busch points out that his focus remains on the NASCAR Sprint Cup series and on adding to his 2004 Cup championship, he’s serious in his pursuit of other endeavors. He’s been testing and is confident that he can snare one of the 16 qualifying spots in the Pro Stock class competing for Allen Johnson and J&J Racing.

Busch will have four qualifying passes to make in an effort to break into the field.

He’s been eyeing drag racing with an increasing level of interest since getting an up-close look at the sport in recent years.

“It’s been a passion of mine to always try to challenge myself to do anything in auto racing, and the drag racing thing caught on when I got to hang out with Don Prudhomme up at the U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis a few years back,” he said. “At the same time, they built zMax Dragway right here in my backyard (in Charlotte). So just this infatuation of going fast on a quarter-mile continued to grow and to grow and to grow.

“Last year in the Gatornationals, running in the Sportsman ranks, we got rained out the whole weekend, but yet the Pro divisions were still out there running and I thought, ’Man if I’m going to do this, I’ve got to go up to the Pro divisions,’ so a Pro Stock car. It’s definitely over my head right now. It’s a tough challenge, but testing has been going really well and the indications we’re getting right now, if we hit our marks and do the right things, we can make the show at the Gatornationals. That’s my objective.”

Busch already has spent four days testing and plans to do more in the future. He’ll be back in the drag-racing world on Feb. 9, then run his final test on March 8, “just to get into the sync of the NHRA feel and do it all week long,” he said. “With only having three off weekends from the Cup schedule, there’s not the opportunity to run as many NHRA races as I’d like.”

This one, he’s ready for. He jokes about being allowed to run in that series, saying that he’ll “just sign a little waiver that says if I get hurt I can’t get paid on the Cup car.”

But Busch seems thrilled with the opportunity, talking excitedly about the possibilities this year could bring. In his past, he’s tested an Indy car, and he recently ran a Frank Kimmel Street Stock event in Rockingham, N.C. Now, he’s pursuing one of the top events in auto racing in the Gatornationals.

“It’s a lot of fun to learn about it and to challenge myself, really just the No. 1 goal is to have fun with it and to challenge myself to be successful,” he said of the opportunity.