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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"I understand why NASCAR needed to take the action that it did. This is a very serious issue,” Busch said. "The important factor is that what I was accused of was a complete fabrication, and I never wavered through this whole process because of the confidence in the truth, and I had the support from Gene Haas and everybody at SHR, and that’s where my focus has been. It’s been on the racing side of it, and I never lost that confidence and that drive, and so it’s a humbling experience, but it’s made me more focused and determined."

NASCAR suspended the 2004 Cup champion indefinitely on Feb. 20 after a Delaware judge issued a no-contact order for Busch, writing that Busch "likely" committed an act of domestic abuse against his former girlfriend Patricia Driscoll stemming from an incident Sept. 26, 2014 at Dover International Speedway.

The Delaware Attorney General’s office announced March 5 it would not pursue criminal charges against Busch. And on Wednesday, NASCAR reinstated Busch with the caveat that he is under indefinite probation and must adhere to any judicial requirements asked of him and remain in a treatment program as part of NASCAR’s Road to Recovery.

"I’m appreciative of the process, of the road to recovery,” Busch said. "To me it’s a roadmap that they laid out that I am respecting. It’s created such a good foundation to utilize moving forward that I wish I would have done it sooner." 

The hardest part of the last two months?

"Sitting out watching the 41 car go around the race track, especially at the Daytona 500,” Busch said. "Atlanta is one of my favorite tracks, and Las Vegas is my hometown track. It’s been torture sitting out of the car.

"Being in that race car is a privilege, and it’s a feeling that you can’t describe when you go out there for practice each and every weekend. You drive down into the corner, the car sticks, you stand on the gas, and you drive out of the corner, it’s an experience that not a lot of people get to do, and I get a chance to race against the best in the world in NASCAR."

Busch also disclosed a recent insightful conversation he had with NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France.

"Talking with Brian France and going through this road, he told me, ‘Don’t change,’ ” Busch said. "(He told me) ‘Don’t be the person that’s different in the car, but be a different person outside of the car,’ and so Brian said, ‘Go be yourself in that car. That’s what we really love. We love Kurt Busch behind the wheel. Go out there, use that passion, go for those wins.’

"And that’s my focus is to be humble through this whole process, but let actions speak louder than words."

Busch would not specify if he would pursue further legal action to clear his name or have the no-contact order rescinded, instead deferring that course of action to his attorneys.

He did say, however, that his trademark "Outlaw" moniker that has ridden above the driver’s side window of his race cars in competition would likely be replaced with his signature.

"My reputation has always been what I’ve done behind the wheel, and it’s moments that I hope to battle and put out on the track like I did with Ricky Craven in the closest finish in the history of NASCAR," Busch said. "It’s to focus on the wins at the tracks that I haven’t won on or to deliver for Gene Haas on the trophies that he signed me on for that he wants in his trophy room.

"My reputation will iron itself out in whichever way that it is, but my focus is the race car, and as I move forward, I’m putting my signature above the door of the car, and I’m proud to have my signature on the side of a car that Gene Haas has and to carry his name into Victory Lane."

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