Kurt Busch’s career resurrection continues with new Monster sponsorship

Kurt Busch’s season began under a cloud of scrutiny brought upon by allegations he assaulted former girlfriend Patricia Driscoll in an incident inside his motor home last fall.

The allegations he grabbed Driscoll by the throat and slammed her head against a bedroom wall multiple times only added to Busch’s public image as an unrepentant boor. When a family court commissioner issued a no-contact order against Busch just days before the season-opening Daytona 500, NASCAR had little recourse but to suspend the 2004 Cup Series champion, the third such sanction of Busch’s career.

Although the Delaware Attorney General’s office declined not to pursue charges citing a lack of evidence, companies still leery of having Busch as a spokesman, even before the allegations, possessed substantially justification now.

The events involving Driscoll were seen as a continuation of a career tailspin in which Busch’s reputation had become so tarnished attracting a company to serve as a primary sponsor was a considerable challenge. Seen as an outcast by NASCAR’s major organizations, it’s why Busch had been forced to take lesser rides not befitting his talent before current owner Gene Haas took a flyer on him two years ago.

In 2012, Busch joined Phoenix Racing, a single-car funded almost solely by owner James Finch and no outside resources. The next season he drove for Barney Visser’s self-sponsored Furniture Row Racing team before moving to his current team, Stewart-Haas Racing, which not so coincidentally is supported by Haas’ machine tool company and not a business with more prominence.

Along the way Busch slowly began rehabilitating his image. However, the domestic abuse allegations, the resulting no-contact order and subsequent suspension only ostracized him further. Despite being a former champion and in his prime years as a title contender, the 37-year-old’s career seemed if not finished, profoundly impacted for the immediate future.

But aiding Busch’s attempt to continue moving past a career filled with petulance and a potentially career-wrecking criminal charges were witnesses corroborating Busch’s testimony that he did not assault Driscoll. Despite her assertion that Busch left marks when he assaulted her, Motor Reaching Outreach chaplain Nick Terry testified he and his wife saw no signs Driscoll had been hurt when she visited their motor home immediately afterward.

When no charges were filed and Busch completed a NASCAR-mandated evaluation by an independent behavioral health expert, he returned following a three-race suspension. And ever since, the driver who once populated the headlines for all the wrong reasons has enjoyed a career resurrection.

Twice Busch won during the regular season -- the first time he’s earned more than a single victory since 2011 -- and with consecutive finishes of fifth and sixth to start the second round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup playoff, he’s poised to advance to the third of four rounds if he can score a sound finish Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway.

The transformation is noticeable beyond just the results on the track. Once combative and often condescending over the radio to his team when mistakes happened or cars weren’t to his liking -- one heated exchange saw Busch refer to then car owner Roger Penske, a highly respected figure withing the garage, as “dude” -- Busch’s outbursts have become sporadic.

When Busch speaks about crew chief Tony Gibson, who took over guiding the No. 41 car late last season, it is with fondness, and borderline reverence. Gibson’s calming presence and old-school approach has provided Busch greater confidence in his team and a calming effect when things go askew.

Busch’s personal life is also enjoying greater stability. In August, he proposed to girlfriend Ashley Van Metre and in a posting the news on social media said, “I found the love of my life, and she said yes.”

Perhaps the greatest barometer Busch’s once flat-lining career has stabilized came Wednesday. That’s when SHR not only announced it had inked the driver to a “multi-year” contract, but that Monster Energy would act as Busch’s co-primary sponsor covering all 36 Sprint Cup races. The deal calls for the energy drink company to have its logo on the hood of the No. 41 car for 17 races, 18 on the quarter panel and one race as full primary sponsor.

Monster’s relationship with Busch isn’t a new partnership, just the expansion of an associate sponsorship that’s been in place since 2012. But it is another telltale indicator of just how far he has come professionally and personally.

And that the cloud of uncertainty hanging over Busch prior to the season has officially dissipated.