Chip Ganassi Racing returns with drivers Kurt Busch and Kyle Larson for the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season.
Both drivers visited Victory Lane last season with Larson ending a 75-race winless streak at Dover International Speedway in the playoffs.
Busch extended his season win streak to four years after scoring the victory at the Kentucky Speedway as he beat his brother in a last lap battle in July. While that win catapulted him into the playoffs, he had an early exit in the Round of 16.
Busch, the 2017 Daytona 500 winner, will head into the 2020 season fresh off signing a multi-year extension last fall to drive the No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet led by crew chief Matt McCall.
“I think the key word is refreshing,” Busch said. “Over the years switching from Stewart-Haas to Ganassi, switching a crew chief at Stewart-Haas or coming from Furniture Row to Stewart-Hass. The contract in place, the same crew chief, manufacturer and the Camaro is upgraded. This is relaxing and refreshing, I’m ready to go for 2020.”
Larson capped off the 2019 season with a pretty deep playoff run. His racing urge didn’t end after Homestead-Miami as he participated in several dirt racing events and even came home with the 2020 Chili Bowl Nationals “Golden Driller” trophy.
“Once you get in the Cup car is totally different and what you’ve done in the dirt car might not mean anything on translate anything once you get to it,” Larson said. “I know I’ll have a lot of confidence but currently I could go to Volusia and suck and everything I’ve done leading up to February doesn’t mean anything. I’ve won nine races out of 15 or 16 show, it’s been good, and my confidence is high.
“I think it goes race to race really, hopefully I can have a good East Bay and Volusia and be really confident leading into the Daytona 500.”
Last year, Larson finished seventh in the 500 for his third top 10 in 12 starts at the 2.5-mile superspeedway.
“The first few years of my Cup career, I feel like Daytona never went good for me,” Larson said. “You always felt like your digging yourself out of a hole after week one. Over the last couple years, it’s been good, and we’ve been able to crash but there’s also a lot of people that also crash. You can still finish somewhat decent in the race. If you can get off to a good start there, you can just get by the next handful of weeks having smooth races. Then you can race your season a little bit differently.
“If you get off to a bad few races to start, your instantly aggressive and you feel like you have to be aggressive and find yourself in more trouble. It is good to try and get through Daytona without too many issues.”
2020 Team Previews
