Busch will play it safe at Bristol -- Kurt, that is

Kurt Busch's plan looked so good a week ago. It made so much sense and had so much long-term potential. Well, it's a plan that's in the garbage can now. All thanks to a wreck on a track known for being highly wreck-resistant.

So, this week, it was back to noodling a new plan for Busch and his Penske Racing team, one which will be put into effect Saturday night at a track that is anything but wreck-resistant -- Bristol Motor Speedway.

The new plan is to revert to picking up championship points instead of bonus points.

"Our biggest focus right now, of course, is to make this year's Chase," Busch said this week. "We got involved in the crash there at Michigan, and we took a hit in the points."

The crash at Michigan occurred on Lap 120 with Busch running in the top 10.

When the final box score came out it showed a 36th-place finish. Suddenly, the entire feel of the Race to the Chase was altered. Busch dropped from fourth to sixth in the Sprint Cup standings, and with three races left until the start of the Chase, concern set in.

"It wasn't so much that we dropped a couple of spots down the ladder," Busch said. "We're not overly concerned about that. The most disappointing thing is that our cushion over 13th decreased almost 100 points."

The hope for Busch and his team was that they would arrive at Bristol this weekend with a cushier cushion over Chase-excluding 13th place. That would allow them to continue on with the plan that was formulated after finishes of ninth and seventh the previous two weeks.

"The Michigan finish leaves us in an unusual spot," Busch said. "We'd hoped to have a big enough buffer entering Bristol that we could take chances in trying to win and score those extra bonus points when the Chase kicks in. I guess you could say that the Michigan results kicked us back into a more conservative mode coming into Bristol."

Not that Busch has completely chucked his hopes to win Saturday night's Sharpie 500 (6:30 p.m. ET, ESPN). History alone indicates he could indeed come away from what is perhaps the most popular race of the season with those 10 Chase bonus points that go to the winner.

Not that long ago, Busch owned the high-banked, .533-mile oval located in the scenic hills of eastern Tennessee.

He won there five times in five years, including three in row -- sweeping 2003 and winning the 2004 spring race. In 17 starts, he has nine top-10 finishes.

"Bristol has always been like a home track to me, and this weekend's race couldn't come at a better time," Busch said. "We always seem to get a little extra oomph going every time we head back to Bristol."

Most of the flashy numbers Busch has posted at Bristol came when he was driving a Ford for Jack Roush. (Continued)