Charlotte, NC – Kurt Busch will continue to drive the No. 51 Chevrolet for Phoenix Racing when his suspension from NASCAR competition is completed on Wednesday.
Team owner James Finch confirmed that he met with Busch on Tuesday to discuss his future with the team in wake of his suspension from NASCAR for verbally abusing a member of the media earlier this month at Dover International Speedway.
Busch, the 2004 Cup Series champion, will resume his driving duties with the team in this weekend's 400-mile race at Michigan International Speedway.
"At the end of the day, we are racers so we're going racing together with Kurt and the No. 51 Phoenix Racing Chevrolet," Finch said in a statement. "We know adjustments have to be made, but how we fix that is between Kurt and myself. We're going to go to the track, work hard, race hard and work on trying to attract a sponsor, and we're going to do that together."
Last week, NASCAR suspended Busch until June 13 after officials determined he violated his probation when he made threatening comments to a reporter from The Sporting News after the completion of the Nationwide Series race at Dover.
Busch had been on probation until July 25 following his actions in the Sprint Cup event at Darlington Raceway one month ago. NASCAR penalized him with probation and a $50,000 fine for "reckless driving on pit road during the race" and for being "involved in an altercation with another competitor (a crew member with Ryan Newman's team) after the completion of the race."
David Reutimann drove the No. 51 car in place of Busch last Sunday at Pocono Raceway. Reutimann will return to the No. 10 car for Tommy Baldwin Racing at Michigan.
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