{"id":28461,"date":"2019-11-02T21:34:25","date_gmt":"2019-11-03T02:34:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=28461"},"modified":"2019-11-03T09:23:01","modified_gmt":"2019-11-03T15:23:01","slug":"nascar-saturday-texas-notebook-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2019\/11\/02\/nascar-saturday-texas-notebook-3\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR: Saturday Texas Notebook"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

Kurt Busch signs multiyear extension with Chip Ganassi Racing<\/b><\/p>\n

FORT WORTH, Tex. \u2013 Kurt Busch will be driving for Chip Ganassi Racing for at least two more years, with Monster Energy as his primary sponsor.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Kurt Busch, driver of the #1 Monster Energy Chevrolet. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Busch and team owner Chip Ganassi announced the multiyear extension of Busch\u2019s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series contract on Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway, but not before Busch teased reporters with an impending retirement gag, amplified by the gift of a rocking chair from TMS president Eddie Gossage.<\/p>\n

The specific terms of the driver and sponsor contracts weren\u2019t revealed, other than that both were multiyear commitments.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a good career, it\u2019s been fun, and it\u2019s been tough at the same time to see how things have changed and how things have gone,\u201d deadpanned Busch, the 2004 series champion who advanced to the Playoffs this year on the strength of his win at Kentucky Speedway. \u201cWait! Eddie, really? A rocking chair? It\u2019s not time for a rocking chair. This old guy\u2019s got some kick left.\u201d<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/TMS2_CGR_KurtBusch_110219-1.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

With that, Busch and accompanying Monster girls popped a spray of confetti out of champagne bottles to announce the new contract.<\/p>\n

Ganassi had high praise for the 41-year-old driver, crediting him with elevating the performance of not only the No. 1 Chevrolet but also with helping teammate Kyle Larson\u2019s effort in the No. 2 Chevy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith his driving this year, he\u2019s sparked the No. 1 car, taken it to a place it\u2019s never been before,\u201d Ganassi said. \u201cThat was the first time a Chevrolet won at Kentucky, so we were pretty pleased with that. And, obviously, having Monster as a great partner has been a real shot in the arm for our team…<\/p>\n

\u201cAs Kurt will tell you, he and Kyle Larson have had a great time becoming teammates, and I think it\u2019s made Larson a better driver\u2026 So this guy brings a lot more than just what\u2019s on the track. He brought a lot of guys on that 1 team their first Cup win, and I think you saw that in the exuberance at Kentucky. So I\u2019m proud to keep him as part of this team for the foreseeable future.\u201d<\/p>\n

A multiyear deal for Busch is an anomaly. His recent contracts\u2014and Monster\u2019s accompanying commitments\u2014have been for one year each.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo have a multiyear deal, it\u2019s comforting that I won\u2019t have to answer the questions weekly about being a 41-year-old veteran in a sport where there\u2019s a young push,\u201d Busch said. \u201cTo have that done, that\u2019ll be refreshing, because the focus should be on track.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt should be the on-track product, what happens out there racing, what happens during the week with different promotional things and continuing to build this sport that\u2019s given me so much\u2014those are some of the big reasons why I signed on again to keep going, smile out there and go for the trophy.\u201d<\/p>\n

CHASE ELLIOTT NEEDS MORE MAGIC TO KEEP PLAYOFF HOPES ALIVE<\/b><\/p>\n

The 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs have been a repeating story of disaster and recovery for driver Chase Elliott.<\/p>\n

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Chase Elliott. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

After crashing his No. 99 Chevrolet nose-first into the Turn 1 tire barrier at the Charlotte Road Course, Elliott recovered to win the first elimination race of the Playoffs.<\/p>\n

But Elliott\u2019s engine expired eight laps into the opening Round of 12 race at Dover. He finished dead last in a field of 38 and scored one point.<\/p>\n

Two weeks later, facing elimination at Kansas Speedway, Elliott faced a 20-point deficit to Brad Keselowski entering the race. In an overtime restart, Elliott charged to second place as Keselowski faded. The net difference was just enough for Elliott to grab the final berth in the Round of 8.<\/p>\n

The opening race in the Round 8 at Martinsville, however, brought more catastrophe. A broken axle relegated Elliott to a 36th-place finish, 55 laps down. Consequently, Elliott must pull another rabbit out of his hat in the next two races.<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ChaseElliottmp3.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

Currently 44 points below the cut line for the Championship 4, Elliott almost certainly must win either at Texas or ISM Raceway in Phoenix.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, just trying to keep our season alive,\u201d Elliott said of his approach to Sunday\u2019s AAA Texas 500 at TMS (3 p.m. ET on NBCSN, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). \u201cYou want to be able to go to Homestead and race for a championship. There\u2019s only going to be four guys that have that opportunity, right?<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, for us, we\u2019re in a tough spot from a points standpoint that we\u2019ve pretty much got to go win, either here or Phoenix or both or something spectacular happen for us to move on. So, that\u2019s the cards we dealt ourselves after last week and we\u2019ll see how it plays out.\u201d<\/p>\n

KYLE LARSON NEEDS TWO EXCELLENT RACES\u2014OR ONE WIN\u2014TO ADVANCE<\/b><\/p>\n

The thesis has always been that, if rim-rider Kyle Larson ever advances to Homestead-Miami Speedway as one of the Championship 4, he\u2019d have to be considered a favorite for the title, given his unmatched prowess at running the wall at the 1.5-mile speedway.<\/p>\n

The problem has been getting there, and approaching Sunday\u2019s AAA Texas 500, Larson is 24 points behind fourth-place Joey Logano in the race for a Playoff berth in the season finale. Accordingly, Larson has no margin for error\u2014and he knows it.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, we have to have a really good day,\u201d Larson said. \u201cTwenty-four points out, if I can\u2019t win, I need to do a really good job in each stage and probably finish in the top-three. Hopefully, I can go win, and that would make next week (at Phoenix) easy. I know I have to have a really good day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fortunately for Larson, his average finish of 20.4 at Texas belies the speed he typically has in his No. 2 Chevrolets.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re always really fast here at Texas, especially since the repave (after the November 2016 race),\u201d Larson said. \u201cI\u2019ve just had a crash and two blown right-front tires. I\u2019ve always ran really well here. If you just look at a piece of paper, you would think that I don\u2019t run well here. But we\u2019re always really fast. We just have to keep the right-front holding air.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Kurt Busch signs multiyear extension with Chip Ganassi Racing FORT WORTH, Tex. \u2013 Kurt Busch will be driving for Chip Ganassi Racing for at least two more years, with Monster Energy as his primary sponsor. Busch and team owner Chip Ganassi announced the multiyear extension of Busch\u2019s Monster Energy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":24875,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[366,16,665,21],"class_list":["post-28461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-aaa-texas-500","tag-nascar","tag-oreilly-auto-parts-300","tag-texas-motor-speedway"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/MENCS_BMS_KuBuschQual_040519.jpg?fit=5472%2C3648","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-7p3","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28461"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28476,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28461\/revisions\/28476"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}