NASCAR Cup Series

Thinking man: Kurt Busch believes he has reason for Chase optimism

Published Sep. 13, 2014 4:16 p.m. ET

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Jared Turner

One of the first drivers to secure a berth in this year's Chase for the Sprint Cup, Kurt Busch has spent most of 2014 sans the pressure of needing to run up front to solidify a spot in NASCAR's playoff.

That's a good thing -- because Busch has endured a somewhat tumultuous ride in his first season with Stewart-Haas Racing.

Since his trip to Victory Lane at Martinsville in late March, the 2004 Sprint Cup champion has finished in the top 10 only five times in 20 starts. That statistic is a bit deceiving, though, because all five of those top 10s came in the second half of the 26-race regular season.

Perhaps justifiably, perhaps not, Busch feels encouraged about the potential of his team with the 10-race Chase set to get rolling Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway.

"I believe we're ready," Busch said. "I feel like the (No.) 41 Haas Automation Chevy, the team, the feel, the energy and the preparation -- it's all there, and it can be defined by we won earlier this year, and at that time were we ready to win? Yes and no, but we were hot or cold after that moment, and then after Memorial Day we went to Pocono with a new fresh outlook on the setups and from that point forward we really started building consistency with our team."

Although Busch never pieced together consecutive top-10 finishes throughout the entire regular season, his results did improve considerably after Memorial Weekend -- when he finished an impressive sixth in the Indianapolis 500 before ending his long day with a blown engine in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

To make it out of the first Chase round, which consists of Chicagoland, New Hampshire and Dover, Busch and his No. 41 bunch led by rookie pit boss Daniel Knost can ill-afford the kind of mistakes that left Busch outside the top 30 in half of the season's first dozen races.

Busch, who is seeded eighth out of 16 Chase drivers, was ninth-fastest in Saturday's final practice at Chicagoland, so Sunday's race seems to be shaping up well for the veteran driver.

Even with all of this season's hiccups, Busch has at least one potential psychological advantage over most of his Chase competitors: He already owns a Sprint Cup championship trophy, having won the title in the inaugural Chase a decade ago.

"You know that you've done it and you can do it, and there's feelings you get each week as the Chase progresses on the strategy that it took to win then, but you have to adapt to now and now is a new format with this Chase Grid and 16 teams, then it goes 12 and then to eight and then to four," Busch said. "There's certain things you have to do, I believe, and if you have a game plan going in, and it plays out, you're a step ahead of the competition."

VIDEO: A look back at Kurt Busch's win at Martinsville Speedway earlier this season

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