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Kurt Busch signs multi-year deal to remain at Chip Ganassi Racing

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Quaker State 400 Presented by Walmart

SPARTA, KENTUCKY - JULY 13: Kurt Busch, driver of the #1 Monster Energy Chevrolet, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Quaker State 400 Presented by Walmart at Kentucky Speedway on July 13, 2019 in Sparta, Kentucky. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images)

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FORT WORTH, Texas — Kurt Busch and sponsor Monster Energy will remain at Chip Ganassi Racing. The team announced that Busch and Monster Energy have each signed multi-year deals with CGR.

Busch left Stewart-Haas Racing after last season and signed with Chip Ganassi Racing for this season, inking a one-year contact.

“I think he and Kyle (Larson) have had a great time being teammates,” car owner Chip Ganassi said Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway. “I think it has made Kyle a better driver having Kurt as a teammate. He brings a lot off the track. He brought a lot of guys on that 1 team their first Cup win. I’m very proud to keep him a part of this team for the foreseeable future.

“It means the world for this to come together,” Busch said Saturday. “There are still special moments ahead. There’s plenty of gas still in this tank.”
Busch, the 2004 Cup champion, made the playoffs with his win at Kentucky in July. It was his 31st career Cup victory. He enters Sunday’s Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway (3 p.m. ET on NBCSN) 13th in the points. He has six top-five and 17 top-10 finishes this season.

“We’re racing people at Monster Energy and we knew immediately that we had found fantastic racing partners in Chip Ganassi, Kurt Busch and all involved at Chip Ganassi Racing,” said Mitch Covington, vice president of sports marketing for Monster Energy, in a statement. “NASCAR is a major part of who we are at Monster Energy and to be able to compete at a championship level with Kurt Busch and Chip Ganassi Racing truly reflects who we are and fires-up our desire to not only win races, but to make a serious all-in run at the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series title.”

Ganassi lauded Busch’s connection to the No. 1 crew.

“We’ve all been in these situations where you bring one person in and it changes the entire complexion of the team and that’s exactly what happened here,” Ganassi said. “We brought one person in and it changes the complete complexion. ... It was (Busch). It’s hard for a team owner in sports to tell you how hard teams work to get to this position. People in sports will tell you that you’re always looking for that right combination, that right mix of people.

“All of us in management were just kind of standing around early in the season going, ‘Man I can’t believe this guy. We sign him one day and the next day at 8 o’clock in the morning doing pit stop practice.’ ... That’s the kind of spark the guy brings to the team. He’s in there working hard at it. A lot of what you get with Kurt Busch is not advertised within the media and it’s a lot of things that team owners like and crew guys like.”