Will Stewart-Haas Racing Become The NASCAR Edition of Jersey Shore?
When Kurt Busch parted ways with Penske Racing following an obscenity-laced tirade against a television reporter in the final race of 2011, his career appeared to have hit rock bottom.
Now, the 2004 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion is the most coveted free agent in the garage.
As FOXSports.com's Lee Spencer reports, Busch already has been offered a contract extension by his current employer, Furniture Row Racing.
And Stewart-Haas Racing competition director Greg Zipadelli confirmed Friday morning at Bristol Motor Speedway that SHR founder and co-owner Gene Haas wants Busch to drive a fourth SHR car in 2014. In fact, Zipadelli said, an expansion of the team's facilities as begun in anticipation of Busch's arrival.
What's interesting about all this is that Stewart and Busch have had plenty of on-track issues already.
At Dover in 2007, Stewart and Busch made contact on track, with Busch then running into Stewart's car on pit road, nearly hitting one of Stewart's crewmen.
At Daytona in Feb. 2008, Tony Stewart and Busch were summoned to the NASCAR hauler after contact during practice for the Budweiser Shootout. During that meeting, Stewart allegedly punched Busch after Busch called Stewart fat and made disparaging remarks about Stewart's haircut.
And earlier this year at Richmond, Stewart ran into Busch on the cool-down lap at Richmond after Busch knocked him out of the racing groove on the final restart.
Busch and Harvick have a history of run-ins as well, although to be fair, Harvick has praised Busch this year, when the two have worked as quasi-teammates because of the technical alliance between Furniture Row and Richard Childress Racing, Harvick's current team.
Harvick already is signed to SHR for next year, as is Danica Patrick. And, of course, Stewart will be there, too. One can only imagine that potential for additional volatility if Busch is added into the mixture of Alpha dog personalities.
Stewart, Harvick, Busch and Patrick all driving for the same team.
Will this be NASCAR's next powerhouse mega-team or could SHR be NASCAR's version of "Jersey Shore" next year?
Time will tell.
All of which makes us wonder if Danica will seek out advice from Snooki about how to play nice with her roommates.
Stay tuned, this ought to be worth watching.
