Daytona 500 winner Kurt Busch looking for first Talladega victory

Busch was a Daytona bridesmaid three times, including in 2008 when he pushed his Penske teammate Ryan Newman to the company’s first 500 win. 

At Talladega Superspeedway, Busch has scored four top-10s in his last five starts. He has four podium finishes, but no wins. 

Feeling confident 

Yet since restrictor-plate racing is such a crapshoot, Busch isn't any more confident entering this weekend's event than he was prior to winning the Daytona 500. 

“There are so many different things that come up at restrictor plate races that can help you win or take the chance away of winning,” Busch said. “I came here with a thought process of, ‘we won the most recent restrictor-plate race,’ so that means we know what we’re doing at Stewart-Haas Racing to find that competitive advantage, and we should have a great shot at winning this weekend.  

“So this step blends into the confidence side of it on having good cars and I’ve done my homework the best that I can to review tape and watch different trends from Talladega versus Daytona, and you just hope you’re in the right place at the right time. That’s how Daytona unfolded for us and it’s easier said than done, of course. You just have to work through all the different inconsistencies that pop up and a lot of it is just being in the right place at the right time and not getting caught up in another wreck from somebody else.”

The tools to get it done

Despite loosing his winning No. 41 Ford to the Daytona 500 experience, Busch believes with the strength of the Stewart-Haas Racing team behind him, he’ll have the tools it takes to win on Sunday. 

“Stewart-Haas builds great restrictor-plate cars and to have a winning car from the Daytona 500 stuck in a museum that’s the best feeling in the world still – to have that issue – and this car is the car we ran at the Shootout down at Daytona, so it’s got track time this year on it and the guys took the car back after Daytona and polished up on her and here we are,” Busch said. “It shook down really well in the practice session.”  

Ford running strong

Fords captured the top-nine speeds in Friday’s abbreviated Monster Energy Cup Series practice. And the Team Penske Fords have won the last three races at Talladega — but neither Brad Keselowski or Joey Logano will have their crew chiefs this weekend. Both Paul Wolfe and Todd Gordon are serving suspensions for rule infractions. But it didn’t seem to slow down either car. Keselowski and Logano were third and fifth, respectively, in the draft. 

Busch was fourth on the speed chart with a lap of 195.784mph.

“All the Fords wanted to get together and run some laps and record data, and it didn’t matter which car led or which car followed, we just wanted to have all the Fords together, so it’s great to have that teamwork and that camaraderie from Stewart-Haas and Penske and there were Roush cars mixed in with RPM cars, so it was really nice to see the top nine on the speed charts all have a Ford emblem. It’s neat to see that teamwork.”