2020 Ganassi Racing NASCAR preview: Kurt Busch
2020 will mark Busch’s second season driving for Chip Ganassi Racing in NASCAR’s premier series.
Busch’s final points position may read 13th and an early out in the Playoffs, but his season was not indicative of such a thing at all.
Busch was between seventh and ninth in points for much of the regular season and entered the Playoffs as the eighth seed, but then ran into trouble right from the start of the Playoffs; 39th, 20th, and 18th place finishes led to a first round exit from the postseason and a big hole that even five top 12 finishes in the last seven races couldn’t dig him out of.
The 2004 series champion exceeded expectations and ran solidly, also scoring a 13.1 average finish which ranks as his sixth-best season in terms of average finish.
Despite leading fewer laps and getting fewer top-10 finishes, he equaled his top-five finish and win count he scored in his final season with Stewart-Haas Racing.
With the new Chevrolet nose coming to the Cup Series that’s expected to make the Chevrolet teams more competitive, Busch’s performance, like his teammate Kyle Larson’s, should rise this season.
I’d look for Kurt to have a solid regular season performance that’ll secure him an easy Playoff berth. The more driver-oriented tracks in the Round of 16 will also benefit Kurt so qualifying for the Round of 12 should be no problem.
Past then, anything can happen with the Roval and Talladega being in the Round of 12, but Kurt is a good bet for someone who’ll be in the thick of things during that round.
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com