Danica 'glad' to have Kurt Busch back as teammate

Danica Patrick is glad to have the intended group together on-track since Daytona 500 practices last month.



“I’m really glad to have him back as a teammate,” Patrick said on Thursday following her visit to Arizona Call-A-Teen Youth Resources, Inc., the winner of GoDaddy’s Got Your Back contest.



“Kurt’s obviously a great driver. He’s very fast. He’s really technical. … Just having the intended group together is good in and of itself.”


NASCAR reinstated Busch on Wednesday, 12 days after the suspended 2004 premier series champion agreed to the sanctioning body’s terms and conditions necessary to restore his competition license. The reinstatement came six days after the Delaware Attorney General’s office declined to file criminal charges against him over an alleged incident of domestic violence with ex-girlfriend Patricia Driscoll.



As part of NASCAR’s reinstatement, the governing body also waived the requirement that a driver must compete in all championship events of the current season to make the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Busch made the Chase last year thanks to his win at Martinsville in March but was bounced from the postseason format after the opening Contender Round.



Busch was suspended Feb. 20 for two violations in the NASCAR Rule Book — Actions detrimental to stock car racing; and 12.8: Behavioral penalty — after a Delaware family court commissioner released his findings in a civil disposition, saying that a “preponderance of the evidence” indicated that Busch “committed an act of domestic violence” last September at Dover International Speedway. The penalty was upheld in two appeals heard Feb. 21.



In addition to Busch and Patrick, SHR fields Chevrolets for the defending Sprint Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick and three-time champion and team co-owner Tony Stewart.

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