From weather to pie fight, Busch thrives in New York

NEW YORK -- Neither an aborted helicopter ride nor a silly pie-smashing episode could dampen Kurt Busch's Chase Media Tour experience.

Busch gets it.

The 2004 Cup Series champion consistently proved during the official Chase Media Day on Thursday at a variety of locations around Manhattan, that he was not only ready for the Chase, which begins this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, but that he was all over promoting it.

Follow the Chase with news and analysis from the track by NASCAR.COM's insiders.

• Full coverage

Busch was pretty darned busy, from 7:45 a.m. ET until right about 3 p.m. ET doing everything from live radio appearances, radio call-ins, TV tapings, an appearance at a fan question-and-answer session at the Hard Rock Café, sessions with print and television media and an appearance, with five other drivers, on Live with Regis and Kelly.

And while some of the athletes groused about different aspects of the day, Busch never had an ill word to say.

"Coming to New York for a week like this makes you feel special about the season you've had so far, and it's a privilege to make it to this point," Busch said. "I've been out of the Chase a couple times -- I've made it four out of the six years -- and when you don't make [the Chase] you seem to feel like you're the odd man out, and that you missed out on something.

"To be in New York is a nice treat. The way NASCAR's done it, year after year -- like, [Wednesday] night, when [NASCAR chairman] Brian France gets up at dinner, very casual, and creates an environment to make everyone feel comfortable. You know something was pretty special about the first 26 races if you're sitting there listening to him here in New York."

Kurt Busch spent all day Wednesday at ESPN as a guest on numerous shows.

Wednesday Warm-up

Busch spent a good chunk of the day Wednesday making the rounds on a number of shows at the ESPN "campus" in Bristol, Conn., including SportsCenter, ESPN First Take and ESPNews. Busch also did a live chat with fans on ESPN.com and co-hosted the day's NASCAR Now news magazine show on ESPN2 with host Mike Massaro.

The highlights included the realization that references to the site as a campus, akin to that of a small college, were accurate due to the number and varied configuration of buildings. The most impressive might have been the sizeable back-up power station.

While Busch's party was quizzical about the extent of that specific aspect of the facility, as ESPN producer Kate Jackson later explained at another stop on the tour, the extent of programming done by ESPN in general, or a specific instance such as 9/11, when all of ABC News' programming was done through the Bristol facility due to the events that occurred in New York City; make potential power outages unacceptable.

That was only one of several illuminating experiences of the two days, during which Busch even managed to conduct some business and travel planning while on short transit stages.

But on Wednesday afternoon when Busch, his PR rep Tom "TR" Roberts and NASCAR's Ashley Jones tried to return to New York via helicopter, rainy weather accompanied by high winds forced them to land in Danbury, Conn.

With this bunch, there were no challenges -- only solutions and after zipping to Hertz and getting a rental car -- Jones was the pilot, Busch the navigator and Roberts the back seat driver for the two-hour trip to midtown Manhattan.

It got Busch there in time to reunite with wife, Eva, and their two Terriers: Ginger, a Yorkshire and Lola, a Norwich. Busch said that, in effect, the side trip to New York made this nothing if not an extended race weekend trip -- and the dogs accompany them in most cases.

The interesting aspect that had Busch shaking his head came when, after he let Ginger wet her feet in a fountain, the Yorkie came out and urinated on the sidewalk. Busch, who as a good pet-owning citizen had a plastic bag with him, was momentarily alarmed, but no bail was needed.

And he laughed when he said that, even in a midtown hotel, his pets were fairly calm, "until everyone started coming back from partying about 2:30 in the morning."

Too early, too bad

After I arrived in the New York borough of Queens in the middle of the night, 5 a.m. came even earlier. And with H1N1 running rampant down in Central Florida, according to my wife, it was doubly uneasy to wake up feeling distinctly nauseous. But it must've been just too early, because that sensation quickly passed and at least so far, hasn't turned into the flu of any variety.

For someone not terribly used to navigating New York, the staff at the Fairfield Inn City View, in Long Island, was phenomenal. From getting your car parked safely (for 24 hours!) on the street to holding your luggage, providing shuttle service to and from the train station and even supplying a detailed "stop hopper" subway map, these guys got it done.

I left the hotel at 6 a.m. for a 7:30 rendezvous at NASCAR's midtown headquarters, The London on West 54th street. Came out of the 7 train station, went up a block to Seventh Ave., went down three blocks to West 54th, turned the corner and figured The London was right there due to the line of black Chevrolet Suburbans and Cadillac Escalades outfitted with little NASCAR-oriented window flags above the right-side doors.

It was not quite 6:25 a.m., so it was time to get some answers to nagging questions about NASCAR in New York.

Later in the day, in response to a question about the city Busch, a Las Vegas native said, "it's tough the banquet won't be here this December." But a random survey of five of the NASCAR athletes' limo drivers indicated none of them knew the banquet had been moved from New York to Las Vegas this year.

A quick scan of sidewalk-borne media proved that the NASCAR informational vacuum -- well in evidence in this town every December -- was in full effect Thursday as there wasn't a line of coverage in the Daily News, New York Post or New York Times -- while the latter two had significant stories on Renault's Formula One scandal.

But then again, the public availability during this event was virtually nil. People in the know of the schedule could try for autographs in an environment that was very less restricted but no less tenuous than at a race track. And you know that some of them did, particularly outside the Hard Rock.

At 7:45 it was time to depart for the day's first stop, the Sirius Satellite Radio's location on the 36th floor of the McGraw-Hill Building at 1221 Avenue of the Americas.

Kurt Busch never complained about all the media obligations he had -- in fact he was glad to be in the position to have to do them.

Sirius security

Luis, our limo driver, after a drive of only a few minutes delivered Kurt, Ashley, TR and I to the McGraw-Hill Building and we strolled into the expansive lobby area. We had to enter and sign-in, showing photo IDs to get visitor's passes, then pass our bags through something similar to an airport screening system.

From there we had to pass through another security checkpoint, getting another sticker on our passes, to get to an elevator. And going through the maze of security on the main floor didn't excuse us from visiting the same element when we exited the elevator on the 36th floor.

Busch, ever the pro, was greeted by Sirius' Dan Norwood and Matt Deutsch like a returning prodigal, but the experience was a little different for the first-timer in the group.

Luckily it was only a momentary interlude, but after entering the Sirius studio area and heading toward the location for Raw Dog Radio, one of two stops Busch would make here along with a visit to Blue Collar Comedy, I experienced a spooky sensation I hadn't felt since I visited the "Kennedy Museum" outside the Grassy Knoll in downtown Dallas in fall 2001.

That day in Dallas, little more than a month-and-a-half after 9/11, watching passenger aircraft approach the downtown Love Field airport was a little unnerving. And Thursday, walking an external hall on the 36th and looking out at other skyscrapers framed by brilliant blue sky, it was hard not to imagine the horrific sight of airplanes flying into them.

That was the indelible aftermath of being on an airplane -- luckily leaving Florida -- on the morning of 9/11. And luckily Busch's fluent interaction with his respective hosts, who were well-enough versed in Busch's background -- including his affinity for comedian Ron White -- to provide nearly 15 minutes of engaging repartee.

Before he left, Busch also executed one of the professional standards, at least for NASCAR athletes, when he did a string of promotional messages for Sirius. Asked to do one or two, Busch executed the entire ensemble, quickly and fluently with virtually no misspeaks or stumbles.

The neatest aspect of that visit came in the elevator lobby, where Sirius' vice president for sports, Steve Cohen, came out for a quick handshake and stand-up visit with Busch, before it was time to head for stop two -- a NASCAR staple when in New York, Live with Regis and Kelly.

Pies were flying everywhere when Kurt Busch and other drivers helped set the world record for largest pie fight on "Live with Regis and Kelly."

Custard or coconut cream?

Maybe it was because it was a lower structure, but the comparison was shocking after Luis dropped us on a back street behind the studio. Our group walked right in the back door, through a growing crowd of people outfitted in clear plastic rain ponchos -- despite the brilliantly clear day.

This was the prelude to the morning's big event, breaking the Guinness Book of World Records mark for the "Largest Custard Pie Fight." Busch was signed-up for this one, along with Jimmie Johnson, Brian Vickers, Juan Montoya, Kasey Kahne and Denny Hamlin.

The most surprising aspect came when the entire group, along with PR handlers, a select number of fans who somehow had won the right to participate in the "fight," staff members and other onlookers, had assembled in the "green room" where guests on this, or any other show of this ilk wait to "go on stage."

Busch was dressed in a dark suit with a stylish tie and button-down collared shirt. Kahne, Montoya and Vickers wore sport coats and jeans while Johnson and Hamlin had on casual coats and jeans though none of the jeans were of the casual variety.

"I was trying to go for the dapper look," Busch said with a grin while the group waited behind a curtain behind the Regis and Kelly set, which was typically rough-hewn, low-key chaos that proves, if you ever get a chance to see that aspect, what lies television cameras tell about these shows' sets.

But by the time the group went out for its pre-pie fight appearance, Busch had opted to doff his tie -- over Vickers' objections, who somehow had been adopted as the unofficial fashion consultant.

"I was trying to impress my grandma," Busch said. "I hope she can forgive me."

In the quick break between the athletes' stage appearance, in which Regis alternately appeared to have been well-prepped and borderline sophomoric, the drivers returned to the area of the green room to don blue rain jackets and pants emblazoned with Regis and Kelly logos.

Busch, ever the sponsor-conscious pro, was the only one who had a small, 3x5-sized Miller Lite patch to attach above his roughly-printed name badge on the left chest of his rain jacket.

"He always has that, and he's always ready to slap it on there whenever it's appropriate," Roberts pointed out. "He's always thinking of ways he can promote his sponsors' involvement in what he's doing."

And I'll be darned if, during the prelude and actual aftermath of the "fight," that the Miller Lite ID plainly and clearly showed-up for several seconds. All any of the other guys had to show for it were smears and splatters of custard pie.

Busch's black dress shoes were caked with pie leavings, and he wore a prominent chunk of custard on his chin -- even doing a post-fight ESPN interview without removing the pie from his face.

Some of the athletes thought it was ridiculous, though Jeff Gordon, who was not involved in Regis and Kelly on this trip but who's done a number of appearances there, wasn't one of them. His PR rep, Jon Edwards, said there was a benefit to doing the appearances, no matter what they involved, and that NASCAR athletes tended to appear there more than NFL players, for example.

"The whole thing is a celebration, I think, of the regular season," Busch said between stops. "It brings everything full circle and it's a win-win for everybody, because you talk about NASCAR and the sport that it is, you talk about your sponsors and the success you've had so far and you get their exposure level raised. But I'm used to it now."

Kurt Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin, Kasey Kahne, Juan Montoya and Brian Vickers were all smiles covered in pie.

A pro is as a pro does

That was never so obvious as when we returned to The London and went up to the 48th floor -- without having to go through any security -- and after a momentary delay when a housekeeper answered the door after a short pause and told us there were no ESPN people there.

We went to 4901, where Busch fluently executed a number of "green screen" poses in his Miller Lite uniform that would be used in different aspects of ESPN's Chase coverage. Instantly responding to all the camera operator/producer's instructions, Busch virtually was flawless on the initial run-throughs until the process was complete.

Jackson and one of her fellow producers then stepped-in with a slew of general questions about everything from the Chase, to the season, to the post-season departure of crew chief Pat Tryson, and Busch slammed off the answers in a non-stop torrent.

"What a professional," the cameraman marveled as Busch changed back into his street clothes in another room. "I mean, he really gets what this is all about, doesn't he?"

Any longtime, or even first-time observer, would have to agree.

Rockin' on

The last stop of the day was a couple hours of varied media events at the Hard Rock Café. Busch got out of the Escalade, targeted the door and purposefully strode to it. People descended on him from every angle with everything from No. 97 Roush Sharpie die-casts to hero cards in their hands.

He signed as many as he could, but he never stopped walking, and was quickly inside the door. It was a good thing, because he had to go right to the live Sirius NASCAR Radio show, Tradin' Paint, with "Chocolate" Myers and Rick Benjamin.

After that it was one appearance after another, several more live radio hits, several radio call-ins, print and TV sessions and an extended fan question-and-answer show that was attended by a couple hundred specially-invited guests of NASCAR corporate partners who were given limited blocks of tickets. Former Cup champion and ESPN analyst Dale Jarrett emceed that event, which Busch did with Hamlin and Johnson.

Bad weather and construction scaffolding cut the day short and precluded doing a downtown New York group photo outside the Hard Rock -- but no one complained. Least of all Busch, whose last two acts of media engagement were radio interviews done at the top of a rough stairwell to get in a secluded spot.

Again, with this guy, there are no challenges, only completed tasks.

Sliding on out to the north

Getting out of New York is always an adventure and usually a relief. After hitting his and Eva's favorite Mexican restaurant in the city, Busch had to get to Teterboro (N.J.) Airport to fly to New Hampshire to get down to the business at hand.

"Now all that's behind us, the focus is qualifying for this weekend's race," Busch said. "All in all, we're looking for a good solid weekend -- to start up front, get a good pit box, run up front and put ourselves in position [to win] at the end of the race.

"We know there are going to be some tough guys to beat, we hope to be one of them."

Busch nailed those objectives Friday in qualifying, as he'll start third on Sunday. Whatever occurs in the rest of the Chase remains to be seen, but if his performance in New York is any indication, Busch is ready, willing and able to achieve his second championship.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.