Kurt Busch has secured a new multi-year deal with the Chip Ganassi Racing NASCAR Cup Series team.
The 2004 champion’s move to Ganassi for this season was initially just a one-year contract following his split with Stewart-Haas Racing.
The 41-year-old then took Ganassi’s first win of 2019 at Kentucky Speedway in July and made it to the playoffs, although he was knocked out of contention in the first round. He has outperformed team-mate Kyle Larson for much of the season.
“Chip made me an offer that I couldn’t refuse,” Busch said. “There is more in the tank for me to give, for me personally there are some race wins that I want to go win, such as the Southern 500, there is another opportunity for more championships.
“There’s more things to find. I’m never complacent and that’s something that was instilled in me early on, which is that drive and desire to continue to continue to keep going.”
Team owner Chip Ganassi said he was impressed “quite a lot” by how the addition of Busch to his organisation this season had improved the company across the board.
“You have multiple people within all these teams and you’re always searching for the right mix or the right group of people to work together as a team, whether it’s what happens on Monday or what happens on Tuesday,” Ganassi said.
“Every day these guys work awful hard. Everybody knows the work that goes into these teams and what a team has to do.
“We’ve all been in these situations where you bring one person in and it changes the entire complexion of the team.
“That’s exactly what happened here. We brought one person in, the team is exactly what it was a year ago. You bring one person in and it changes the complete complexion. It’s one guy that does that and it was him.”
Larson will also stay on at Ganassi into 2020.
Leading 2020 NASCAR Cup team line-ups so far
Toyota
Joe Gibbs Racing: Martin Truex Jr, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Erik Jones
Leaving Family Racing: Christopher Bell
Ford
Stewart-Haas Racing: Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Aric Almirola, tba
Team Penske: Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski
Roush Fenway Racing: Ryan Newman, Chris Buescher
Wood Brothers Racing: Matt DiBenedetto
Front Row Motorsports: Michael McDowell, Matt Tifft, tba
Chevrolet
Chip Ganassi Racing: Kyle Larson, Kurt Busch
Hendrick Motorsports: Chase Elliott, William Byron, Alex Bowman, Jimmie Johnson
Richard Childress Racing: Austin Dillon, Tyler Reddick
JTG Daugherty Racing: Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Ryan Preece
Richard Petty Motorsports: Darrell ‘Bubba’ Wallace Jr