Busch, Tryson succeeding against odds of breakup

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- It doesn't matter if you're a sports psychologist or just a sports fan, it seems the success Kurt Busch and Penske Racing crew chief Pat Tryson have had during this Chase has flown in the face of all reason.

The week before the Chase opener at New Hampshire, Tryson informed Busch and his teammates that he would leave them after this season, to go to work at Michael Waltrip Racing. Shortly after, Tryson was told that beginning the next week he would only be allowed in the shop one day a week -- for the Tuesday debriefings.

Rusty Wallace, who preceded Busch in Roger Penske's No. 2 car and is now a NASCAR commentator, said he was surprised the team could focus, never mind pulling it off to the point of winning last week at Texas in the eighth race of the Chase. They moved to fourth in the Chase, only 59 points out of third.

"What they've accomplished has been amazing," Wallace said. "It shows they've got a good team effort and a good engineering staff over there at Penske Racing, because they built a car Kurt didn't want to run this past weekend, and he won with it.

"But I was wrong, because at Dover I said, 'How can you only allow a crew chief in the shop part time and expect to win a championship?' I guess I was half-right because they're not going to win the championship, but they're winning races.

"And I didn't even think that was gonna happen because I thought there'd be too much fallout from Pat's decision and that Pat might lose interest -- but he didn't.

"He just told me they've got two races to go, he's going to work his [butt] off and go out on top, with two races to go and they're going to try to end up in Victory Lane two more times. Even though he's only allowed in the shop a limited time, he's still giving it his all."

To Busch and Tryson's credit, they completely played down any trace of emotion at achieving that victory, one of their greatest goals after the championship. In separate interviews after the Texas victory, they agreed it was business as usual.

"It really wasn't as big of a deal as everybody likes to write about," Busch said dismissively. "But that is the central focus for the 2 car right now. But in the end, Pat Tryson's committed to this deal, he enjoys working with me and we're going to ride this wave because we don't know what the future holds for both of us. (Continued)