Kurt Busch chases NASCAR playoffs with future uncertain

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — Kurt Busch has welcomed the uncertainty of this season as he chases a playoff berth while pondering his future in NASCAR.

Busch posted the fastest practice time Saturday as NASCAR’s Cup Series returned to Road America for the first time since 1956. His younger brother, Kyle Busch, had the second-fastest practice time but crashed and will have to start Sunday at the back of the pack in a backup car.

There’s plenty at stake for Kurt Busch the rest of the year as he heads into Sunday’s race 14th in the points standings.

“I haven’t really been in this situation much,” Busch said. “Usually there’s a win or really good points that give us a cushion. I’ve embraced this year in a whole different level just because of all the challenges that have come our way.”

Busch’s contract with Chip Ganassi Racing expires at the end of the year, and Ganassi sold his NASCAR team to Trackhouse Racing owner Justin Marks this week and will leave the Cup Series at the end of the season.

Busch said the news broke when he was inside a simulator. He stepped out and saw he had a couple hundred text messages.

“You drive harder and push deeper and push harder when news like that comes out,” Busch said. “It was a surprise to me. All of us at Ganassi looked at each other and said, ‘We’ve got a playoff berth right in front of us. Let’s go get it. Let’s win and let’s push as hard as we can here right now in 2021.’ ”

Busch prepared for Road America on the simulator for a refresher on a course he last raced 2012 when he finished eighth in an Xfinity Series race. He said he attended an IndyCar race at the track as a fan in 1997.

Road America, located on 640 acres about halfway between Milwaukee and Green Bay, has hosted an Xfinity Series race each year since 2010. But this weekend marks the first time Road America has hosted NASCAR’s premier series since Tim Flock won a rainy Grand National event in 1956.

This is the fourth of seven road-course races on this year’s Cup Series schedule, and red-hot Kyle Larson thinks it’s the toughest yet.

“There’s just not much room for error here,” Larson said.

Kyle Busch discovered that Saturday when he spun across the track until the left side of his Toyota hit the concrete. Ryan Preece also will start at the back of the pack Sunday after being forced to go to a backup car.

Drivers have debated whether the competitors with Xfinity Series experience at Road America could have an edge.

Sure enough, Austin Cindric posted the third-fastest practice time after winning the Xfinity Series race here last year. AJ Allmendinger, who won here in 2013 and finished second last year, had the seventh-fastest time.

“Beautiful track — very narrow, very fast, very technical, obviously, a lot of turns,” Martin Truex Jr. said. “I think the guys with more experience are the faster guys right now. We’ve got some catching up to do. But we got faster literally every single lap in practice.”