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Kurt Busch: Team was ‘between rock and hard place’ to making changes

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Kurt Busch says the Stewart-Haas team was in between a rock and a hard place because they didn't want to make any changes to the car at the risk of messing it up.

To change or not to change? That was the question for Kurt Busch and the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford team in Sunday’s Overton’s 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Busch was having a good -- but not necessarily great -- day. His team was desperate for a good finish, especially after back-to-back DNFs in the last two races at Daytona (crash) and Kentucky (engine).

Sure, Busch and crew chief Tony Gibson could have gambled Sunday in hopes of a better finish instead of its eventual eighth-place showing.

But on the flip side, things could also have gone south in a hurry, and that’s the last thing Busch needs, given he’s currently 14th in the NASCAR Cup standings.

“We just couldn’t make any adjustments to her because we didn’t want to mess it up,” Busch said. “That’s that between a rock and a hard place, where you want to adjust on it but you don’t want to mess things up and go backwards. So the last three runs, we just left her alone.

“It was a solid day, we wanted a little more and with the way our car ran today, that’s a good sign because we know we need to bring more. Once we get into the playoffs, we’ll be ready.”

UPDATE: Unfortunately, even by not trying to mess up, Busch’s team indeed did mess up. During post-race inspection, Busch’s team and Daniel Suarez’s team were both found to have one unsecured lug nut each.

Whether one or both teams will be issued penalties by NASCAR will likely be determined Tuesday or Wednesday.
Follow @JerryBonkowski