Friday, August 23, 2013

Zipadelli Explains Timeline On Kurt Busch Offer

"We are working on it..."
Stewart Haas Racing Competition Director Greg Zipadelli eliminated all doubt today, confirming that the tram is pursuing former series champion Kurt Busch to drive a fourth SHR Chevrolet in 2014.

“We are working on it,” said Zipadelli, “and if we can get it all worked out, we are going to head that way.
“We are looking to expand,” he continued. “We are looking to do whatever we can to make Stewart-Haas a better place to race (and) give our drivers better resources.  Our goal is to give our teams better product to race every week, going into Daytona.  With four good drivers next year, I think that it gives us that opportunity. Our owners are aggressive. It’s kind of exciting. In a time where everybody is kind of going the other way, we’ve got owners that are committed to stepping up and hopefully making Stewart-Haas a bigger and better place in the future.”
He also explained the sequence of events that led to Busch’s offer, just days after Tony Stewart had insisted that the team was not looking to expand.
“Gene Haas is obviously a partner, and started this many years ago,” said Zipadelli.  “He has always liked Kurt. We had talked about Kurt last year -- putting him in the No. 39 (instead of Newman) – but things just didn’t work out. 
“It’s really nothing that Ryan did wrong,” Zipadelli said. “He’s done a great job. He’s a good guy, a heck of a driver. This just kind of got sprung on us 14 days ago or less. Gene showed some interest and (has) the ability to put something together. Without getting into a ton more details, that is really all it is. 
“It’s something we are working on, (but) I don’t know that it will all come together,” he cautioned. “It’s going to take an awful lot.  It is kind of late.  We didn’t think we would have all the pieces to put together at Loudon, and felt like it was the best thing for Ryan to give him a fair shot at securing something for himself.”

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