Busch wants to put Daytona 500 trophy on tour

When Daytona 500 champion Kurt Busch learned that only two trophies are made for the winning car, he wanted to find a way to share the winning moment with his team and his fans.

One of the trophies was going to corporate offices. The other? It’s going on tour.

“We came up with the idea (Friday) morning,” Busch said. “There are only two trophies from (Daytona) victory lane, and you cannot get replicas of the Harley J. Earl Trophy. (Team co-owner) Gene Haas has his from the breakfast afterwards, and it’s now in Oxnard, California, at the Haas Automation CNC headquarters.

“My trophy? It’s at the race shop right now. All of the crew guys have taken selfies with it. They had a toast with it the other night. I’m going to get the nice carrying case that goes with it, and I’m going to send it out on a tour. I’m going to take our Harley J. Earl and turn it into the Stanley Cup, and it’s going to go to events here and events there.”

Sharing the championship moment like that isn’t new or unusual for Busch. With his team having two owners, there became a shortage of championship rings from Sunday’s Daytona victory. With rings immediately available for only the driver, owner and crew chief, Busch lent his ring to Tony Stewart, one of his car’s co-owners.

The ring given to Stewart, however, didn’t stay with him long. It was passed around the team at a post-race party, winding up back with Busch the next day.

Busch, who wore the ring at his media availability Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, said he planned to return the ring to Stewart later in the day.

The story, as told by Busch:

“I said, ‘I’d get mine later on when they do a ring ceremony with all the crew guys. Tony, take my ring,’ ” Busch said. “He says, ‘OK, you don’t have to do that, I don’t want it.’ I said, ‘Tony, take my ring.

“Well, at Razzle’s (the Daytona Beach nightclub where Busch and his crew gathered after the race) later on that evening, the ring is floating around with all of the crew guys putting it on and taking pictures. Gene Haas was already off to Barcelona to go to the F1 test, and (crew chief Tony) Gibson had his on. So Tony Stewart’s ring was floating around all of the crew guys, and one of them was at the breakfast deal the next morning. He was pretty lit up. We were like, ‘There it is. Get it off his finger.’ He got a bit too drunk and didn’t remember to pass it to the next guy.”

Prior to his arrival in Atlanta, Busch did the usual media tour that goes along with winning the Daytona 500, making for a busy week.

He was 14th in the first round of practice Friday, running at 186.228 mph.

“To drive into victory lane at Daytona with a stock car in The Great American Race is one of the best feelings in the world,” Busch said. “To be able to accomplish that and to do it with the team that I have at Stewart-Haas Racing, it’s their first Daytona 500 win, it’s been a fairy tale. I don’t even know what day it is.”

Pounding the pavement

Jimmie Johnson has won the past two Monster Energy Cup Series races at Atlanta Motor Speedway. So it’s a with a bit of regret that he prepares for the final race prior to track resurfacing.

“This track is so fun and so interesting and so challenging, I hate that it's our last run on this asphalt,” Johnson said. “But the practice session didn't disappoint. We're learning as we go with this new package, this new season. We're ready to go collect some points and some wins.”

The repave should make the track faster, but it will also require drivers to find new racing lines.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. recommended on Twitter that drivers hold a memorial service for the old surface.

“We all appreciate tracks with so much character,” Johnson said. “(The repaving) shocked and upset a lot of us. We get it. We understand. But it's just going to take a long time for the track to get back to this condition.

“I don't think Darlington is even back to where it once was and the challenges it poses the teams. It's got to happen at some point. It's part of racing.”

Texas Motor Speedway is in the process of getting repaved prior to its April race.

Qualifying

Kevin Harvick claimed the pole for Sunday’s Monster Energy Cup race with a hot lap of 190.398 mph during the final round of qualifying Friday evening.

Ryan Newman and Kyle Busch topped 189 mph to qualify second and third, respectively. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Brad Keselowski round out the top five qualifiers.

This story was originally published March 3, 2017 at 4:55 PM with the headline "Busch wants to put Daytona 500 trophy on tour."