Can Busch Win Without Jack?

NASCAR team Roush Racing announced today that 2004 Nextel Cup Champion Kurt Busch has advised them that he’s off to greener pastures beginning with the 2007 season. He’ll be moving on to Penske Racing South, to replace retiring veteran Rusty Wallace in the #2 Miller Lite Dodge. Man, I wonder what that letter of resignation looked like.

Dear Jack Roush,

Although you are probably one of the top two most powerful and successful mega-team owners in NASCAR’s modern era, and I owe basically all of my success to you, I have decided to move on to a Penske Racing South, a team that has not won a championship in this racing series since 1989. I am a fool.

Sincerely,
Kurt Busch

Don’t get me wrong, I hate Penske with a passion. I always have. They are all that is wrong with NASCAR, they have a monopoly over winning races. They’ve turned NASCAR into a big show, and that show is called: Which team will win this week, Roush or Hendrick? No one else has a chance against these guys. Not even brilliant and hard working teams like Evernham Motorsports or Penske Racing. It’s not so much that Roush has more money into his race cars, he has the money to hire all of the pure talent like Kurt Busch. That kind of combination devastates everyone else. Well, it looks like the tables are turning, Mr. Roush. Busch can win without Jack, and I hope he does. This Roush dominance has to stop.

Isn’t this ironic. Penske Racing hopes that Busch will be able to buy out his contract and run the #2 Miller Lite Dodge in 2006, replacing veteran Rusty Wallace. Odd that Roush is now being put in the exact same position as he has put Chip Ganassi in, when he recently signed Jamie McMurray to replace retiring veteran Mark Martin. McMurray was signed by Roush to drive Martin’s #6 Ford in 2006, but just like Kurt Busch, his contract with Ganassi isn’t up until the end of 2006. Interesting coincidence we have here.

Current driver of the #2 Miller Lite Dodge is Rusty Wallace, who is retiring and says he will in no way shape or form come back in 2006. Mark Martin, who is also retiring, has agreed to run one more year if McMurray is not let out of his contract with Ganassi, which also runs thru 2006.

Think about if you put in a two weeks notice at your job, would you give it your regular best during those two remaining weeks? Some might, but most probably wouldn’t. Would Busch do his best at Roush for the next year and a half? Let’s face it, you basically leave your job mentally the moment you found out you were hired somewhere else. Even though we’re talking about full seasons here, millions of dollars, sponsorship deals, etc., I think that the same problem applies here, especially if Busch isn’t happy at Roush.

Here’s a clue. NASCAR.com has some quotes from Roush driver Matt Kenseth expressing a great deal of annoyance over Jamie McMurray’s recent signing for the #6 car. None of this deal was communicated to any of the Roush drivers, they had absolutely no say. I’m starting to see something here. Roush has grown so powerful that he doesn’t even care what his drivers think anymore. I mean, what do these punk kids he’s hiring know, he is their God and they should do what he says and never question him! Right? I can see that being the way things are at Roush, and I can see why Busch is leaving.

So Busch joins Ryan Newman, my favorite driver, at Penske, which is partially why this is such a big deal to me. Does this mean I have to start rooting for the guy I have rooted against for so long, because he is my favorite driver’s teammate? Like I said, he was a part of the dark side: Roush. But let me look at it this way: this is a sign of something going wrong at Roush, drivers are disgruntled, drivers are leaving, I should be rolling in happiness. And my favorite driver, Newman, is going to have a recent champion on his team, and not just some old fart (Rusty Wallace). I see a bright future ahead for Penske, and that makes me very happy.

What’s been wrong at Penske? Well, I’ve always gotten the vibe that Wallace is a know it all, wants to give advice and not receive it. There has been a lot of media attention that has basically given that fact, saying that the #2 and #12 car don’t ever share any information, because they hate each other’s guts. This is why Penske can’t win championships, there’s no teamwork at all. Unfortunately, in this era of NASCAR, you need to share information, you can’t depend on one driver to get the job done like you used to. I think that’s about to change now that Wallace is finally retiring. No more seniority at Penske, no more tension and division.

Well, I’ll admit it. I’m looking forward to seeing Busch in the #2 car. I really am.

This weekend is my big weekend up at the races in Brainerd, so I won’t be posting here like I usually do on the weekends. The weather looks like it’s going to be good, and that’s great news. I can’t wait, my favorite weekend of the year is finally here! So I’ll see you here next week sometime. Have a good weekend.