Not long after those announcements were made good news came from the Penske camp. Kurt Busch had signed a new, long-term driving contract and a new, powerful sponsor that Roger Penske had partnered with in his Indy teams over the years was coming back on board. Yes, Kurt was going to give up his sponsor for the past few years (Miller Lite and the blue two), and yes, he was moving on to a new Shell / Pennzoil sponsored car with a completely new “hot” color scheme and double deuces on it’s sides and roof, but from all appearances everything was going swimmingly well. It was thumbs up and smiling faces all around…
The 2011 Cup racing season began last February with Kurt, like a sleek greyhound, springing into the lead. He was off and running putting together wins in both the Shootout (Without a teammate, he teamed up with Jamie McMurray and took the win) and the Duel (Regan Smith helped push Kurt to victory) putting him in the front row for the start of the Daytona 500. He backed up his Speedweek prowess by running at or near the front of the 500 trying to put a bow on the Daytona Trifecta, but a late-race wreck ended those hopes. It didn’t phase Busch, who led 19 laps of the Daytona 500 and finished fifth. A rejuvenated Kurt began an all-out assault on the Cup Series driving Penske Racing’s yellow and hot red flaming Dodge Charger. He was in the top ten in Phoenix, Las Vegas and Bristol. Four races, four top tens and Kurt was first in the Chase. Not too shabby!
The Cup Series tour went back west to Fontana where a 17th place finish did little to tarnish the early luster on Kurt’s season. Penske’s Double Deuce Dodge team was 
off to Martinsville full of purpose but a bad handling setup put Kurt down a lap early forcing him to play the lucky dog game finally ending 16th on what could have been a very bad day. Kurt had fallen to fourth place in the Chase through 6 races.
Texas saw Kurt make a short-term comeback as he finished with his fifth top ten of the year but the recovery was short lived as Talladega turned into a nightmare. It seemed like every time there was an accident during the Aaron’s 499 Kurt looked to be responsible. Having been involved in three mishaps on the afternoon, Kurt still had the Dodge Charger in position to challenge for the win when a green flag pit problem late in the race took him out of contention, finishing 18th.
Richmond never was a track that Kurt ran well on, in fact his 22nd place finish 
exactly equaled his 21 race average on the ¾ mile oval, but something certainly tipped over the high strung driver last Saturday night. Qualifying in 36th place most certainly contributed to what was bothering Kurt. I’m sure he was frustrated with a car that evidently didn’t respond to any of the changes the Penske team tried to make it competitive.
Here are some post-race comments made after a public off-color radio tirade Kurt unleashed at his Penske team in general and Penske technical director Tom German in particular… "It was a very frustrating and long night for us. We put ourselves behind in qualifying and had to start from the back. Once the race went green, our car just wore through tires by 40 laps into a run. We never could get back on the lead lap and just when I thought that our car was getting better, we got collected after the 42 (Juan Montoya) and 39 (Ryan Newman) got together.
“We probably had the strongest car running laps down at the end, but when you get more than one lap down; your day is pretty much done. That was certainly the case for us here tonight. We just weren't very good tonight."
Even with 17th, 16th, 10th, 18th and 22nd place finishes in his last five Cup races respectively, Kurt remains sixth in the Cup Chase…
Kurt's latest tirade makes me wonder about a couple of things… I wonder how much his younger brother’s success is wearing on Kurt on one hand, and then I have to wonder how much it bothers Kurt that Kyle is evidently having success on cleaning up his act too, while Kurt can’t seem to control himself…
Is the use of hard language such a big deal in this day and age? Will Shell / Pennzoil have something to say? Will Roger be forced to step in?
I saw a post after the Richmond race in which the author wondered if Kurt was trying to get fired... seriously. Whenever you (semi) publicly disparage a boss or co-worker, you are challenging ownership to make a move. It's an "either he goes, or I do" type situation. Be careful what you wish for, Kurt. My comment on that post was, "what top team would make room for Kurt right now?"
ReplyDeleteOf course, a win, or even a top-5 could patch things up for awhile. But, that lack of respect Kurt has shown for T German has already burned any bridge between them.
It doesn't make sense Gene...
ReplyDeleteKurt just signed a new deal with Penske, he's got a great sponsor and the year started off with a bang. (I'd hate to see what Kyle would be doing if he had 5 races in a row like Kurt, it'd be triple X rated!)
Who knows this might not have been the first time he's berated German and the boys. The difference being this time people could hear his rant and now the NASCAR media has got ahold of it. I understand Penske wasn't there for the race and I'd bet something is said to Kurt when they're next alone.
The hard part is that now the tour moves to yet another track where Kurt hasn't done too well over the years. If things continue the way they have been and Kurt continues to carry on he runs the risk of losing his crew.
They better reconcile their differences and start working together again. It's obvious that when they do they have a contending team.
Thanks Gene!
Kurt has caused quite a stir this week but not exactly sure why - his radio "abuse" is notorious esp when not running well - so this is not exactly new behavior. Pat Tryson used to throw up after bad races because of Kurt's tirades. The only thing different now is that he is directly attacking top engineer directly rather than Roger, his CC or the crew. He already went after Tom German at Fontana when he told TG to shove the #22 up his arse and then Kurt said he would be tuning the car and doing the setups himself to throw out all the computers...
ReplyDeleteI often marvel at how the crew handles these tirades - they shuck it off with surprising ease. They definitely would rather have Kurt upset about not running up front than him okay with having a crappy run. THere is also a fair amount of eye rolling and mocking that goes on in the pits to laugh it off. He wont lose his crew and its not really the crew he is after - he is just so frustrated that the cars wont turn and they cannot tune it right.
I do agree with Gene - now that Kurt has started pissing match with Tom German Roger is going to have to step in and get them talking or one of them goes. Roger is really absent from the Cup side of things in general so it will either be him or Walt (Kurt's car owner, and 2nd in command at Penske) to fix this.
Roger should be used to it...he had Paul Tracy for how many years in Indycar? ;)
ReplyDeleteKristen,
ReplyDeleteYou know better than any of us when it comes to the inner workings at Penske and I hope things calm down.
Kurt's average finish at Darlington is just over 16th in fourteen races (2 top fives and no wins). It certainly doesn't appear to be a track where the 22 team can right the ship but it appears that's just what they need to get their focus back. The next three tracks the Cup racers visit (with Kurt's average finish in brackets): Dover (18.90), Charlotte (20.43) and Kansas (19.00), so maybe Darlington IS the place to get things back in order...
I want a happy Kurt!
Gotta watch those crazy Canucks tez! LOL!
ReplyDeleteMaybe Tracy ought to move over to NASCAR. They could use an enforcer! It would add more spice to the racing and put the fear in some of those prima donna drivers (at HMS)!
Dwindy, Kurt's run well at Darlington in the past. (Remember that epic drag race with Ricky Craven in the spring of 2003?) I don't think Kurt's trying to get himself fired, but I do think that he's trying to get Tom German fired. I think Mr. German should have a private talk with either Mr. Penske or Mr. Czarnecki (Kurt's car owner) and get this straightened out. As you pointed out, they're coming up on tracks where Kurt has not fared well in the past. As for the Kyle angle, owning a Truck Series team has helped and matured Kyle by having to see things from an owner's perspective. That in turn has helped out his Cup racing at JGR. He has an active owner like Joe Gibbs to bounce ideas off of.
ReplyDeleteKevin Harvick was much the same way as Kurt. But over the years, Harvick has greatly matured. Owning top-level Truck Series and Nationwide teams doesn't hurt. And again, Harvick has an active owner in Richard Childress that he can bounce ideas off of, ask for advice, and so forth. And this year, RCR is running its Nationwide program through KHI. They have a couple of Truck Series teams with Austin Dillon and Joey Coulter as its drivers, and two ARCA teams with Ty Dillon and Tim George Jr. as its drivers.
Thanks Dwindy!
jon,
ReplyDeleteNever having to put up with the instantaneous almost constant type of pressure situations these guys are submitted to I can only imagine what it must be like to feel you're out of control and losing when things go wrong due to someone else's poor judgement or workmanship. Magnify that when it's someone on your own team that's screwing up...
I guess in the final analysis I'd want my driver to not settle for anything less than the best and with these guys sometimes even that falls short. I like the passion. I want winners, not people that are apparently satisfied and that means calling out people when things go wrong, but it also means passing out the atta boys when things go right.
You don't tear your own people down in public. There's a time and place for it. I guess the problem I have here is that NASCAR has allowed the public to listen in to the radio chatter thus ending the sanctity of the team. Things are said in the heat of the moment, the public can listen and those high pressure sentiments supposedly expressed confidentially are out there for everyone to scrutinize...
Both Kurt and Martin Truex had heated exchanges with their people last weekend, exchanges that I'm sure they now wish they could take back. My gosh, Truex fired his whole "F...ing" crew on the radio! So who's gonna lose it this week?
I like your comparison concerning Kyle and Kevin, both being high strung individuals and then seemingly cooling their program down a couple of notches after becoming team owners themselves and getting a big dose of what the guys they drive for are up against. Maybe Kurt needs to look into owning a team too!
Thanks jon!
Dwindy, Kurt's been dabbling in drag racing; he even made the main field in the Pro Stock division at the Gatornationals but lost his first round heat. Two VERY different forms of racing!! As far as Kurt owning a team, perhaps a Truck Series or Nationwide team would be a start. Truex TOTALLY lost it after that final pit stop. He had a car that could have at least stayed within sight of Kyle. But the mistakes the 56 crew made was the straw that broke the camel's back. Truex lost a BUNCH of spots on pit road and couldn't make up the ground.
ReplyDeletejon, I see where MW replaced four of the crew members on the 56 team hoping to mollify Truex. He's currently residing in 22nd place.
ReplyDeleteLooking at it, there are several drivers that better start moving to the front of the pack or the rest of their seasons will be hoping to get things together for 2012... We're approaching halfway to the Chase!
Hey Dwindy - I sorta agree with you on the sanctity of team communications but these guys know that everyone listens to their radio- not like we are spying on them. Plenty of drivers handle their anger WAY more appropriately and privately - oh and gee, lookie there they tend to be champs.
ReplyDeleteSo reason I came back here was to tell you Tom German announced today he is leaving Penske to go to MIT Sloan school of (anger) Management...apparently Kurt won.