Kurt Busch isn’t worried about his future plans and only concentrating on trying to win a second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship.
Busch’s name has been in the news in recent weeks with a possible move from Stewart-Haas Racing for the 2019 season. But as of now there is nothing more to report on the situation other than Busch feeling optimistic he will have a home with a competitive ride next year.
“I do have two contract offers that I’m looking at,” Busch said Friday at Darlington Raceway as he readies for Sunday’s Bojangles’ Southern 500.
“It’s kind of the same thing as last year, where the team at Stewart-Haas put me into free agency and it gives me the opportunity to talk to others, and I do have the loyalty and the respect from Monster Energy. As the sport evolves and the sport changes it’s unique for me too, to understand more about the ownership side and how the different structures are set up, so no updates and just more information for me to digest. We’ll announce things when they get closer.”
Busch is also not feeling any pressure as the regular season winds down over the next two races and he readies for the playoffs. He’s been very consistent in the point standings all year long and his Bristol win two weeks ago solidified his spot in the playoff grid.
While Busch hadn’t won since the 2017 Daytona 500 before his Bristol triumph, he insists the victory did not life a weight off his shoulders trying to end the drought. On the contrary, he wants to find more opportunities to go to Victory Lane.
“We’re not here to win one, we’re here to win a bunch and it’s not a relief to win one,” Busch said. “You want to win seven, eight – those guys are strong right now that are up in the top three and for us we’ve been very consistent this year.
“Bristol was a perfect race where pit stops were solid, restarts – eight out of 10 of them went our way and luck was on our side, and if we continue to do that, to be in position to win, you have to have good pit stops and good restarts with fast cars, so we just want to continue to build on it. It’s not a relief at all. “
Event though the calendar says there are a pair of races remaining in the regular season, Busch is ready to kick things up a notch to championship gear.
“This is where it kind of kicks in the playoff mode with this race now, Indianapolis next week, these next 12 races you’ve got to be at your best and it’s great to come here to Darlington and kind of kick off that stretch run,” he said.
