In an interview Sunday night on [SPEED’s] ‘Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain,’ Sprint Cup Series team owner James Finch said ‘there’s a question’ whether he will be able to run the full Cup season with driver #51-Kurt Busch. Asked by Despain if there was a question whether his team could do all the races, Finch answered: ‘Well, we ‘re trying. There’s a question. We ‘re off and running and trying. We ‘re talking to some people and going from there. We ‘re headed to Kansas this weekend and hopefully get in the top 10 there and then come back to Talladega and have a really good run. We ‘re optimistic about it. Kurt has put a lot of effort in it. It’s kind of like a small team getting a big-time quarterback,’ Finch said.(in part from the Charlotte Observer)(4-16-2012)
UPDATE: Dave Despain: Dealing with the sponsorship issue, are you feeling good to go for the season or is there a question of whether you guys will be able to do all the races?
James Finch: ‘Well, we ‘re trying. There’s a question. We ‘re off and running and trying. We ‘re talking to some people and going from there. We ‘re headed to Kansas this weekend and hopefully get in the top 10 there and then come back to Talladega and have a really good run. We ‘re optimistic about it. Kurt has put a lot of effort in it. It’s kind of like a small team getting a big-time quarterback. Last night (at Texas), it was 480 miles before we got a lap down. The pit crew did a real good job with all the green-flag stops. We ‘re just trying to catch up with Kurt. Kurt’s got the speed. We ‘re trying to get the crew chief up. We ‘re trying to get the pit crew up to be able to handle what Kurt can do. Hopefully, we ‘re getting there.’(full interview at SPEED)(4-16-2012)
UPDATE 2: Kurt Busch comments about 2012 plans:
Q) What are the plans for Phoenix Racing for the rest of 2012?
Kurt Busch: ‘I ‘ve had a handshake agreement with (James) Finch to run the full season since December. We ‘ve talked and that hasn ‘t changed. Do we need sponsorship? Absolutely. There’s a lot that goes into making a team successful and sponsorship is a major part of it. I think you ‘d have to go pretty far back in history to find a team that has contended for wins on a consistent basis or a championship without sponsorship. We ‘ve had a handful of races sponsored this season and both Finch and I are working on some things that will help us out as the year goes on, but the search for sponsorship is ongoing. We ‘re coming off of the race at Texas. We had one of our best performances and finishes of the season, where we beat a lot of bigger and better-funded teams. Hopefully, there are companies out there considering our sport and they ‘re paying attention to what we ‘re accomplishing. Like a lot of people these days, we ‘re doing more with less. In the meantime, we ‘re going to keep working hard each and every week to get the best result we can, on the racetrack and off.’(see more comments KurtBusch.com/Phoenix Racing/True Speed Communications)(4-19-2012)
