Busch's outlook promising after second place at Pocono
This weekend, the 2004 NASCAR champ is in a race to the altar.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Things are looking up for Kurt Busch as he heads into NASCAR's final break of the season.
Busch edged closer to Chase for the championship contention with his second-place finish at Pocono Raceway last weekend, and now sits 13th in the standings with a solid shot at working his way in over the final six qualifying events.
"To have a good points day at this part of the season, with us on the outside looking in, it still gives us that motivation and drive to do it each and every week," said Busch, who is 160 points out of grabbing a spot in the Chase field for the third consecutive season.
Lengthy celebration
Buoyed by his strong run, Busch began the party as soon as he left the track. And the celebration was expected to last more than a week.
The 2004 Nextel Cup champion is getting married Saturday in an elaborate Virginia Beach wedding.
"It will be the most romantic thing I've ever seen, according to the checkbook," Busch said.
But getting to this point was no easy feat for Busch, who was introduced to Eva Bryan through his spotter. Bryan never would have agreed to go on a blind date with a race car driver, so the mutual friend lied and told her Busch was a veterinarian.
The first date was scheduled for the night after the Pocono race two years ago, and Busch was delayed getting back to Charlotte because he finished in the top three that day and had post-race commitments.
Guilty conscience
His strong run that day also helped blow his cover.
As he arrived to meet Bryan, footage of his finish was being broadcast on a nearby television.
"I think he had a guilty conscience, because he told me within two minutes after we were introduced what he does," Bryan said. "Still, I never looked at Kurt like that. I've never been into racing. I didn't know much about NASCAR, never been to a race, never watched a race on TV.
"So I still didn't grasp what it meant that he was a NASCAR driver."
She soon found out, and as the relationship grew, Bryan became a fixture on the Nextel Cup circuit. She's now an employee of Kurt Busch Inc. and spends race day on top of the pit box scanning other teams.
The two got engaged a year ago during NASCAR's final off weekend when they vacationed in Prague, and they'll celebrate their two-year anniversary of meeting on their wedding day.
Getting to this point hasn't exactly gone off without a hitch.
Plans revised
The couple had planned to build a temporary pier on the Chesapeake Bay for the ceremony and received the permits to do so.
But when environmental groups caught wind of it, they immediately protested because the pier would disrupt the local tiger beetles.
"They have their natural habitat on the Chesapeake Bay in the area we were looking to get married," Busch said. "Their big mating season is June and July. With this being July, the environmentalists said, 'We can't have a bunch of guys out there building a pier and dock for this wedding because it's going to disrupt the environment.'
"So we just had to move everything around to the front porch of the house."
And things weren't always smooth on or near the track, either, dating to late last season when Busch was stopped for reckless driving near Phoenix International Raceway.
He initially was accused of driving under the influence, and owner Jack Roush fired him with two races to go in the season in a rapid fall from grace for the reigning champion.
Clean slate
Now driving for Roger Penske, Busch started the season with a clean slate and slowly has won over many of the fans who loathed him during his Roush years.
And after struggling through the middle of the schedule, Busch and his new team are hitting a groove just in time to make a push for the Chase.
"There's still plenty of time for things to go right for us ... and we've got plenty of cool tracks coming up," Busch said.
Busch has won at Bristol, Richmond, California and Michigan -- all tracks in the final six Chase qualifying races. He also expects to be decent at Watkins Glen next month because he was fifth at the other road-course race on the schedule this season.
"That only leaves the Brickyard as far as upcoming races for us," Busch said. "We've tested there and it's going to be an interesting race because tires aren't lasting the full fuel run. We'll see how that shakes out. That could be a big points shake-up in the whole run to the Chase."
But Busch is looking ahead to Indy from more than just a pure competition standpoint.
"I can't wait to come back to Indianapolis as a married man and see how I race with that wedding ring on," he said.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.