Kyle Busch has quite the history with Berlin Raceway but his second and final appearance of the season with the Camping World SRX Series at the Michigan bullring feels like a homecoming of sorts.
No, the two-time Cup Series champion isn’t from the area but he does hold a special connection with the Grand Rapids region as the track hosted the “Rowdy Race” from 2009 to 2012. This was a specialty Super Late Model event hosted by previous leaseholder Michael Blackmer that featured Busch versus the biggest names in the discipline at that time.
He finished fifth in the inaugural event, but then won it three years in a row, starting with the second running that was fittingly christened The Rowdy’s Revenge 251. Busch raced at Berlin in 2002 with the ASA national Super Late Model tour and two other starts in 2017 and 2018.
“It’s just a cool track and they’ve had a lot of cool ideas over the years,” Busch said. “The Rowdy 251 was probably the pinnacle of my Super Late Model career and we were winning everywhere we went back then, really competitive.
“I’ve had a lot of fun doing those races and they made it easy being on weekdays too.”
That’s pretty much why these two SRX starts at Pulaski County and Berlin were easily agreed upon too, that the races are all on Thursday and do not interfere with his Cup Series schedule, especially provided that his two appearances this year are just down the road from his NASCAR races at Richmond and Michigan, respectively.
He won in Virginia and is looking for a clean sweep on Thursday.
“For me, it’s still learning about what these cars can do,” Busch said. “The cars I’ve raced at Berlin before are vastly different than these things so at least having a heads up on how the track needs to be raced is a great starting point.
“But then learning the driving techniques for this car there and how to attack the throttle, those are the biggest things.”
With that said, after the race at Motor Mile, Busch immediately liked this car — especially compared to a Cup Series car that still seems very much lost on short tracks right now.
“I was pleasantly surprised about how they drove from our practice and our heat races,” Busch said. “I was really loose, but we made some adjustments to the car and made it a lot better for me by the feature.
“I really didn’t feel any aero effects whatsoever. I feel like having a car be reliant on mechanical grip and how it lets drivers take advantage of that is a great step for motorsports in general. It’s a lot more fun when you’re not chasing the aero stuff.”
And that’s about an SRX car that was designed originally as a FURY Race Cars road course track day car.
Busch is already the favorite for Thursday as he’s driving the same car he won with last week, and it’s also one of the few cars that didn’t have a single dent or scratch on it following the messiest race of the year … and arguably since the creation of the champions invitational series.
Paul Tracy suspended for the year
It remains an open question when or if Paul Tracy will ever return to SRX following his suspension for rough driving after the race last week.
Series CEO Don Hawk says he’s been in communication with the 2003 CART IndyCar Series champion and says they just needed to make that decision. Tracy, who was brought into the series from day one to serve as a de facto black hat villain, may have taken the role too far when he cleared himself on the frontstretch at Motor Mile and wadded up the cars driven by Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden and racing legend Kenny Schrader.
For his part, Schrader said he was done racing in the series if Tracy was part of it due to two incidents between the two, and that seems to have cemented Hawk’s decision.
“We don’t want to be the police, right,” Hawk said. “We want to have fun and fun races but at a certain point, you have to say ‘stop’ and ‘enough is enough.’ I looked at in-car and looked at all the footage ESPN could send us, enough to give me every angle possible so I wouldn’t have to do what I did, but the footage supported that decision.
“We don’t want to have to do this often, but it needed to be done and still believe it was the right decision and right call.”
Will Tracy return someday?
“It won’t be this year,” Hawk said. “Later today, I have to make some decisions about who is going to be in the car for Eldora and Lucas Oil Speedway, but Paul will not be returning for the balance of the year.”
Taking his place for Berlin will be multi-time track champion Johnny Benson, who also went on to claim the 1993 ASA national tour, 1995 Busch Series and 2008 Truck Series championships.
From there, for the final two races, Hawk would like to install drivers who have connections to the tracks — a hallmark of the first two seasons when it was the local ringer versus the legends of motorsports.
“Johnny Benson, he’s not a local ringer but he is a local legend, right,” said Hawk. “That was part of my thinking there. The last two races, I’ve got some ideas in my head, literally someone you would classify as a hometown hero. I can’t tell you yet but you’re barking up the right tree with that conversation.”
SRX Spotlights local racing
The most meaningful thing SRX has brought to the mainstream racing zeitgeist has been how it spotlights local tracks using national legends.
There is no other scenario in which the likes of Busch, Tony Stewart, Bobby Labonte, Ryan Newman, Marco Andretti, Ken Schrader, Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski would all race together at tracks like Stafford, Motor Mile and Berlin.
The hope is that fans will discover these venues through SRX and then support them throughout the years to come. It’s a valuable pursuit, says Busch.
“That’s the best thing about SRX, that it takes you to these under-the-radar tracks, and then you have the ESPN factor and TV being along for the ride and broadcasting these tracks is really cool as well,” Busch said. “They brought back the Thursday Night Thunder tagline, which means a lot to race fans my age, but it gets people come out and support these race tracks and not just the one night a year where SRX shows up.
“Maybe some NASCAR fans show up and come away thinking that these places are really cool and decide to come back the next month to watch the local stars too.”
That point was echoed by fellow two-time champion Joey Logano, who served as the color analyst over the first two races at Stafford, as well.
“I love what SRX does for the tracks they come to,” Logano said. “I was in the booth for the first two races at Stafford and the place was packed and the energy was electric. The drivers were accessible and it was just a great experience.
“What other race is going to bring that many stars to a track like Berlin or Stafford? Think about that for a minute. You get to see these big names from NASCAR, IndyCar and drag racing all going against each other in an equally matched car.
“It’s just the coolest thing.”
Full-time Kyle Busch or Joey Logano?
Busch could only make these two starts but Hawk says he’ll have a 13th car on the grid if Busch ever decides to race full-time.
“I wouldn’t mind racing full-time in SRX if I’m ever done in NASCAR,” Busch said. “But the NASCAR schedule is so demanding and I’m just glad Hawk let me fix these two races into my schedule. I’d love to do the full schedule someday. That would be pretty awesome. But that’s like seven or eight years away and we’re all going to be a lot older by then.
“But never say never.”
Logano says he got the itch too, calling the races at Stafford.
“I’d rather race than broadcast, obviously, but it’s different getting in the car and everything that comes with that,” Logano said. “It’s easier just showing up and getting into the booth as far as preparation and the amount of time I have.
“The risk that way is zero compared to getting in another car, because I don’t want to get hurt and risk what our team has built on the NASCAR side. It’s a little risk versus reward and the amount of time it will take to be successful.
“I don’t want to show up and do it just to ride around. I want to win. There is a lot that goes into that.”
Championship Standings
Ryan Newman
Marco Andretti -21
Tony Stewart -24
Brad Keselowski -33
Paul Tracy -33
Bobby Labonte -33
Ken Schrader -40
Hailie Deegan -44
Berlin Roster
06 Helio Castroneves
1 Marco Andretti
4 Kevin Harvick
5 Hailie Deegan
6 Brad Keselowski
9 Kasey Kahne
10 Johnny Benson
14 Tony Stewart
18 Bobby Labonte
39 Ryan Newman
51 Kyle Busch
52 Ken Schrader
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.