Kurt Busch joins Furniture Row Racing for 2013

   Official press release

   Furniture Row Racing announced today that Kurt Busch has been hired to drive the team’s No. 78 Chevrolet during the 2013 Sprint Cup season.

   Busch, a former NASCAR Cup champion, will replace Regan Smith, who joined Furniture Row Racing at the beginning of the 2009 season. 

   “Though we have made strides as a resourceful single-car Sprint Cup team, we are not where we want to be, which led us to the difficult decision of making a driver change as we move forward,” said Furniture Row Racing's general manager Joe Garone. “Kurt’s exceptional driving talent has the capacity to take a team to another level. We look forward to having Kurt join our Denver-based organization and feel his racing experience will play an important role as we plan ahead to 2013.”

   Garone added, “As our team driver the past four years, Regan has represented Furniture Row Racing with both class and competitiveness. His win at Darlington in 2011 – the first for Furniture Row Racing – will be a memory forever etched in our organization’s history. He is a friend, and will always be a friend of Furniture Row Racing. We wish him all the best.”

   Busch, a 34 year-old native of Las Vegas, has been a full time driver in the Sprint Cup Series since 2001. He has 427 Cup starts and has scored 24 wins, 89 top-fives, 171 top-10s and 15 poles. He has qualified for the Chase six times in the past nine years and won the 2004 inaugural Chase season championship in only his third full season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series.

   “Furniture Row Racing has the commitment, talent and resources to compete at a high level in the Sprint Cup Series,” said Busch. "I have watched with admiration on how this team has grown over the years and that is why I am excited about the opportunity as I eagerly look forward to a new chapter in my racing career."

   Since the beginning of the 2012 season, Busch has driven the No. 51 Chevrolet for Phoenix Racing. His previous two teams in the Sprint Cup Series were at Penske Racing and Roush Fenway Racing.

Pastrana to make NASCAR Truck series debut at Vegas

   Motorsports star and pop icon Travis Pastrana will compete in both the Smith’s 350 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race and the Sylvania SilverStar zXe Global RallyCross Championship Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

   The Sept. 29 Smith’s 350 will mark Pastrana’s first race in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Pastrana, headlined in the recently-released Nitro Circus: The Movie 3D, is a star of the ESPN X Games and a champion motocross rider. He will drive the No. 98 AM/PM Toyota in the Smith’s 350 and the Red Bull/Discount Tire Dodge Dart in the GRC event. Pastrana won the July 14 GRC race at Loudon, N.H.

   Although a newcomer to Trucks, Pastrana has competed on a limited schedule in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and K&N Pro East series. He made his stock car racing debut last year in the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown at Irwindale, Calif.