Busch Diary: Chase changes drivers’ mindset

Kurt Busch

Friday, Nov. 5, 2004 | 10:28 a.m.

By Kurt Busch

Kurt Busch's diary from the Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup is distributed by NASCAR Scene.

Seven down, three to go.

Well, technically I guess there are 33 races over with three remaining, but the first 26 races on the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series schedule this year seem like they were a lifetime ago. That's one of many differences I've noticed this year with the implementation of our new "Chase to the Nextel Cup" system.

I guess it's probably no surprise to anyone that I'm a fan of the 10-race playoff system. Not only because we're first -- I was excited about it when they first announced it during the offseason. In fact, my first reaction was wishing that they had done it about two seasons earlier when we had such a great run at the end of 2002.

In Atlanta over the weekend, I fielded a lot of questions concerning the point lead we had built up, and whether or not I was comfortable with what was at the time a 96-point lead over Jeff Gordon. After Sunday though, I'm sure we won't be getting those same types of questions now that we're only 59 points up. That's how quickly things can change in one single race.

We weren't the only ones who struggled on Sunday in Atlanta, and the impact of finishing 42nd wasn't as dramatic as it could have been. But it did prove the point I had made all weekend: The only way I think any of us in the top 10 would be comfortable before the checkered flag drops in Homestead is if we entered the race with a 170-point lead.

But you can't be comfortable now because a 10-race playoff requires a completely different mindset.

We spent the first 26 races of the season positioning ourselves for "The Chase." We had some solid runs, and won at Bristol and New Hampshire, but we didn't approach those first 26 races in the "regular season" the same as we did one year ago.

We certainly didn't prepare for them in the same way we prepared for 2003, either. In previous years, we would test at a track before the first race at the facility during the season. This year, we didn't do that. Jimmy Fennig and I worked out a plan that would allow the Sharpie/Irwin team to focus securing our spot in the chase, and then going after it in the final 10 races.