I almost did the proverbial spit take when I read that Kurt Busch had decided to sign on with James Finch’s Phoenix Racing for the 2012 season. I would have bet the family claim on Busch landing at Petty Motorsports. This says a lot about what Busch thinks he needs to do for his career and in not going to Petty Motorsports (who was clearly interested in having him) what it says about that team. This is Hollywood movie script stuff! Big time driver loses his big time ride, goes soul searching, settles on getting back to his roots and racing with a small operation, thereby winning back the hearts and minds of racing fans. Seriously, we just summed up a movie right there.

Add in the fact that Finch is a maverick himself who is about as soft spoken as a howitzer and journalists are literally salivating over this story. Hell, it gets ME interested in watching the whole thing play out so I cannot imagine what it does for the guys who make their living covering this stuff every day. Finch is a guy who made his money in the rough and tumble world of construction. I am sure he has dealt with some interesting personalities in his day, so we’ll see how he melds in with Busch’s famously mercurial temper.

Finch’s team employs 18 full time people. The operation he came from, owned by Roger Penske employed 200. In an ESPN story about the move is mentioned that Busch flew in the economy section of a commercial airplane on his way to the Sprint Cup awards show in Las Vegas a few years back. Penske owns a fleet of private planes. The dude is officially back to living in the real world again.

I could really care less about the details of Kurt Busch’s douchery, but here’s why I think the story has some real teeth. This is the first time I can ever really remember a true top shelf driver stepping into a small, gritty team at this level. Finch gets their motors and support from Hendrick so there is no denying that his equipment will be good. The fact that there are 18 guys total working on this thing in a building about one tenth the size of most of these teams is awesome. It is literally the NASCAR version of the movie 300.

Kurt Busch said that he mainly did this because he wanted to have fun racing again. It may actually push me back into having fun and being a fan again.

I loves me a good old underdog story.

Kurt Busch signs with Phoenix Racing for 2012