Fourteen years removed from winning NASCAR’s premier series championship in 2004, veteran Kurt Busch now finds himself slotted among the top eight drivers poised to make a run at the most prestigious title in racing — the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup. Currently in Charlotte, North Carolina, and about to begin packing for the short jaunt to Martinsville for this weekend’s First Data 500 at the .526-mile fabled paperclip, Busch was in great spirits — and appeared understated and quietly confident about what lay ahead before the sun goes down over Homestead-Miami Speedway on the 2018 season late in November.



There are now only eight drivers left in the run for the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series title. All things considered, how do you and the entire No. 41 team feel about what’s in front of you?

Right now, everybody on the 41 car has got it positioned as strong as possible. Now we have the four most important races of the year — Martinsville, Texas and Phoenix, all leading up to Homestead.

You’re closing in on the conclusion of your 18th season as a driver at the Cup level. What do you think when the topic of Homestead-Miami comes up?

I think championship weekend. This is what it’s all about. This is the who’s who of the elite eight, so to speak, of NASCAR. To make this grouping is really the common denominator goal at Stewart-Haas Racing. The goal is to have all of cars in the (Round of 8) and to be competitive and to win this championship. This is a good stamp on the season and it’s a goal achieved. Now it’s time to do our job.

Our job is to execute on this short track at Martinsville, the fast mile-and-a-half track at Texas and the finesse 1-mile oval of Phoenix.

Those eight spots were not easy to come by either, were they?

They started this format in 2014 and I’ve been in the (final) eight three out of the five years and have yet to make the (Championship 4). It’s a matter of making it to the final (race) — yet when you get there, it’s still a matter of winning the championship. It’s hard to say, “We’re done and it’s easy now and we’re playing on house money.” No, hell no, it’s all about the championship. That’s what we are here for. All along I felt like the best road to get us here four our championship was to build consistency.

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You’ve won at Martinsville before. The paperclip has been pretty good to you in years past, huh?

It has been hot and cold. When we hit it right, we run strong all day. When we aren’t right, then we are cold.

How about Texas Motor Speedway down in Fort Worth?

Texas is our bread and butter. We go there to count on top 10s and top fives and a chance to win.

How about ISM Raceway over in Phoenix?

My confidence level is high with Phoenix. Results have been good over the years. If it’s going to be a must-win, I like Phoenix.

Going back to right after the summer race at Daytona, you and the No. 41 team went on something of a run in reeling off eight straight top-10 finishes. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say you probably know exactly where you need to be during this final phase of the season.

Yeah, I’m glad you’ve researched it and looked at it that way. My job is to be consistent and steady every week I race. When you have a blip in the stack, it’s almost like motocross or supercross or even MotoGP when you fall off your bike. You’re like, “Oh man, an 18th has been what’s recorded, but maybe that guy had a spill when he was running strong.”

That’s the way I have looked at the second half of our year. You hit the nail on the head. The second half of the season has been money and we’ve been strong everywhere. We sat on the pole at Loudon and we led the most laps at the Loudon race, and that was definitely the kickoff for the second half of the year for us.

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You strike me as being quietly confident right now. I don’t know if you’ll admit that, but I thought I’d throw it out there. Thoughts?

I agree with you. There is no reason to not think that we cannot win this. I mean there have been years where I’ve been overly confident, which I learned quickly the media will write that as cocky. I would say, yes, quietly confident is definitely the best way to describe this group.

Anybody you’re surprised didn’t make it into the Round of 8? There are certainly some title contenders now on the outside looking in.

There are a couple surprises. For sure Jimmie Johnson, and my second surprise is Ryan Blaney. I am not surprised at all by Chase Elliott and that lone Chevrolet program running good. You would have thought one of them would have hit it right. Chase has been really strong in the second half of the season.

What’s up with Kurt Busch and the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup season? Too early to tell?

I wish I had all the answers. I’m very confident in the direction I’m going. I love the way that Monster Energy has supported me over the years. They’ve told me that they’re with me and we’re going to be in a competitive top-tier team. It’s just a matter of making everybody happy, and there are a lot of factors that have to go into it all. … That’s where I’m at with all this. I love the way that our fans at NASCAR races come up to me and I love the way they appreciate the Monster Energy brand.