When Stewart-Haas Racing announced that they were expanding to four cars in 2014 with Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch and Danica Patrick, the media immediately predicted that things would go crazy. Though so far, those predictions are false as Busch says that they’re all getting along and can easily understanding each other.
“(Crew chief) Daniel (Knost) and I are new together so we have some of the same questions,” Busch continued. “And then he’s been there many, many years in his system and I’ve been in the garage area in my capacity in my system so we can compare the two very easily and help each other through it. We’ve got guys like Greg Zippidelli as the competition director and Matt Borland as the engineer specialist; you have all the top guys in the right spots.”
Busch feels that they will be able to work together as they’re all competitive.
“The competitiveness in each of us four helps elevate this building and the people in it to find that next competitive edge to get us to victory lane,” Busch said. “When you throw four of them together, that’s four strong ideas, motivation and impressions that all of us will use within each other.”
Busch is used to joining new teams and either having success, or not having success. From moving from Roush Fenway Racing to Penske Racing to Phoenix Racing and then to Furniture Row, Busch has experience in getting to know new places. He also did an experiment with his brother Kyle Busch in splitting the Nationwide Series schedule.
“You hear about it with all the problematic situations that could arise and we actually had a rough year – we only had one win all year; but we had a good bonding year that actually brought us closer,” he commented. “It brought us closer in trying to figure out what was wrong and making the car better. It was a great challenge as brothers and I see that happening as us four strong personalities come together.”
Busch says moving to Stewart-Haas Racing, he is excited about the opportunity laid before him by Gene Haas and Tony Stewart. Busch has watched the team grow and knows the passion that both Haas and Stewart have.
“When Tony came on-board in 2009, it was immediate injection of top people with mechanics and engineers that made the program successful, and then it produced a championship in two years,” he commented. “It is a program that has such a strong potential when you have Tony’s ability to find people, and then you have guys like Joe Custer and Gene Haas that are there with the financial side that want to see success. When you implement the money side of it and the people side together, that’s the formula for success.”
Other concerns have come about with how Busch will fare in a multi-car organization, due to his past. However, Busch says that’s behind him and he’s learned a lot. Busch spoke of the frustration that he had at the end of the 2010 and 2011 at Penske Racing due to finishing 11th in points. That led to the start of the frustration and his behavior.
“For me to take a step back and have fun and build up through the tougher ways that drivers used to break into the upper levels of racing with the underfunded teams and do it the hard way, it was fun to do that in a retro way as a old school guy,” Busch commented. “Now to be with Gene Haas in a top team, it’s given me a better appreciation for how teams develop, how they come together and what it takes to be successful at the top level.”
Busch added that he had to take that time for him as he couldn’t continue to fight a losing battle.
“I was all about producing results on the race track and putting on a good show and I think that’s now what the media is circling around to in wanting to see those door donuts, great side-by-side action and not necessarily the personal people magazine type stories that I was trying to fight,” he commented.
Busch said the experiences he had in the past were about learning from his mistakes and challenging himself to be a better person. Now it’s about capitalizing on that opportunity.
“It’s an amazing opportunity that Gene has given me and I’m not going to squander it away, but you can’t put too much pressure on winning right away,” Busch said. “From the first race to the 26th race, we have to develop this team into a championship caliber team.”
Busch said he is going to focus, at the start, on consistency as consistency allows him and the team to sleep easier at night.
“Like Jack Roush told me, ‘Focus on the things that you can control and let the other things lay as they will’,” Busch continued. “I’m ready for this opportunity with Gene and his commitment. The clarity wasn’t there back in August in going to four teams, but we’re seeing that now. We’re seeing that more so of his ambition in motorsports in looking at a Formula 1 application and his commitment to making a footprint in this motorsports world.”
Busch’s first official race with SHR and his new crew chief Knost will be the non-points Daytona special – the Sprint Unlimited.
“For a new team, we need this type of atmosphere to gauge driver/crew chief communication, to have the pit crew jump over the wall and do their duties in a pressure filled situation, so for a new team it’s vital to be in that race so I’m glad we’re in it,” he said. “You have to be engaged in all aspects of it and this is a good building process for the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevy. Secondly, you have to think on the fly and this’ll get Danica up and at it on top of things. Then myself to digest the Stewart-Haas chassis, the car, the Chevy motors run from Hendrick. There’s a lot we’ll be able to evaluate in that race.”
