Kurt Busch is sticking around with Chip Ganassi Racing for a while longer. On Saturday, CGR announced the 2004 champion has signed a multi-year extension with the team, as have sponsor Monster Energy beyond the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season.
“Chip made me an offer that I couldn’t refuse,” Busch said in a team release. “For me personally, it is the fun and refreshing atmosphere working with (crew chief) Matt McCall and all the team here at Chip Ganassi Racing. All signs pointed toward, ‘Let’s keep going, let’s keep winning.’ It has also been the fans, continuing to work with Monster Energy, the chance to be part of the Next Gen car introduction in 2021, along with building on our successes in 2019 that together makes it an easy decision to continue here at Chip Ganassi Racing.”
Busch and Monster joined CGR in 2019 after spending the last five and three years at Stewart-Haas Racing, respectively. Although he scored a victory in July at Kentucky Speedway, he was eliminated from the playoffs after the Round of 16; he is currently thirteenth in the standings with seventeen top-ten finishes. Busch has won at least one race in every season since 2014.
Since 2017, Monster has sponsored the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, a deal that will end following the 2019 season as NASCAR will shift to a tiered model. Although official partners have not been revealed by NASCAR, the energy drink brand is expected to remain involved in the new sponsorship format.
Monster has been long involved in stock car sponsorship, previously working alongside Kurt’s brother Kyle Busch at Joe Gibbs Racing and Kyle Busch Motorsports in the Xfinity and Truck Series. Current JGR driver Riley Herbst also receives support from Monster. Within the CGR stable, Monster was the primary sponsor of Felix Rosenqvist in the IndyCar Series for World Wide Technology Raceway‘s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 last August.
“We couldn’t be more pleased to be making this announcement,” Ganassi added. “We have developed a great relationship with (Monster CEO) Rodney Sacks and everyone at Monster. We look forward to this partnership lasting for a very long time. As for Kurt, I must say that I have been nothing but impressed with him both in and outside of the car. He has such great instincts behind the wheel, has been tremendous with all of our partners and everyone on the shop floor feeds off his intensity on the track and his enthusiasm off it.”
Busch, who drives the #1 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Ganassi, will continue to have Kyle Larson as a team-mate. In July, Larson confirmed his contract with CGR runs through 2020.
