DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Everybody has to be something. Kurt Busch is a few things.
He’s the 2004 Sprint Cup champion. He’s unofficially the best restrictor plate racer in NASCAR without a restrictor plate points win.
The first one he’s obviously comfortable with. The second frustrates him. But after another harshly denied near-miss in the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway, the sometimes-cantankerous veteran was projecting contentment with the reality of being in contention in a form of racing where the outcome is often out of the drivers’ control. And he left seemingly more focused on becoming a two-time series champion despite being jammed off-track in a green/white/checker finish.
After Busch’s No. 41 Chevrolet slid through the apron after a collision with Joey Logano coming to the checkered flag, he controlled it, drove it to the garage, then controlled his emotions as he drank from a sponsor’s energy drink jug.
“That’s what I always hope for. I hope to be right there where I was tonight on the green/white/checker and one day the chips are going to fall in my direction,” he said. “There’s no way that it can’t. I mean, this is almost two rotations though around a roulette wheel on how many times we’ve been here and haven’t won. A lot of 0-for whatever, but we’ll keep trying.”
Busch tried extremely hard Saturday to end what became an 0-for-62 run, probing for the lead in the final laps as eventual winner Brad Keselowski vociferously defended his position. Busch was running inside an undulating top five when Keselowski’s Team Penske teammate, Logano, made contact with him from behind.
“We got hit hard from behind,” Busch said. “Our rear tires were off the ground and I don’t know where Logano wanted to go because he was going to go from fifth to first? There’s not a chance that he had to win it. We positioned ourselves to be the car to get a good run off the bottom and it just didn’t work out with him trying to drive straight through us and it would have worked out better if he would have pushed us.”
Crew chief Tony Gibson was less filtered in his criticism, blasting Logano on Twitter: ''Stupid is as stupid does!!! #22''
In finishing 23rd, Busch lost a chance to leave Daytona with the points lead, but instead fell a spot to third, now 20 points behind leader and Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kevin Harvick. Perspective likely is easier because Busch already has won and virtually is assured a spot in the 16-driver, 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup.
In a restrictor plate odyssey that began in the 2001 Daytona 500, Busch has finished second in NASCAR’s grandest race three times and has 12 top-5s and 16 top-10s. He has six top-5s and 16 top-10s at Talladega Superspeedway. He almost added the final stat Saturday.
“We could have had a shot at [Keselowski],” he said. “We did everything right tonight except cross the line where we were supposed to.”
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