Kurt Busch Wanted By Richard Petty Motorsports? Makes Sense To Me

Richard Petty Motorsports is interested in hiring Kurt Busch, Sirius XM’s Dave Moody reported Monday.

“I would mortgage my house to make Kurt a part of this team,” RPM exec Robbie Loomis said, according to Moody. “We value what he has done on the racetrack. He has won a (Sprint Cup) championship and worked for a first-class operation like Penske Racing. Guys like that don’t come along every day.”

Many fans’ initial reaction might be to say: “What the hell, RPM?” But if you think about it, it makes perfect sense.

Yes, Busch is an abrasive, difficult personality who can become a cancer to a team depending on how he’s running. But at the same time, he’s perhaps one of the five best pure talents in all of NASCAR and is therefore worth taking a chance on – at least for a second-tier team.

Given the public’s current distaste for Busch, I’m not saying it’s a smart move on RPM’s part in terms of public relations; nor am I arguing sponsor Best Buy would be better off with Busch than the personable AJ Allmendinger.

But put yourself in RPM’s shoes – a guy like Kurt Busch suddenly becomes available, and you see the opportunity to better your underachieving, under-the-radar organization with a proven talent. You can’t afford to pass that up.

Busch would be able to tell you whether or not your team is behind in certain areas. Yes, he might do it with a few F-bombs and crude comments about monkeys and footballs, but what does your team really have to lose? In RPM’s case, very little.

Hiring Busch would give a team like RPM tons of exposure – which sponsors obviously like – and possibly propel the entire organization forward. He may be a jerk at times, but he’s also a winner – and that counts more than anything.

So go ahead, RPM – hire Kurt Busch to drive one of your Fords. It may not make sense to many fans (or to Jack Roush, for that matter), but it certainly fits from the standpoint of organizational improvement.