Kurt Busch re-signs with Stewart-Haas Racing

Kurt Busch is, unsurprisingly, returning to Stewart-Haas Racing.

Busch, 39, announced Tuesday he would be coming back to the team. SHR declined his contract option for 2018 in August, which made Busch a free agent for the upcoming season.

Busch being a free agent didn’t exactly mean he had his choice of teams to drive for in 2018. With Furniture Row Racing dropping down to one team, Richard Childress Racing looking more and more like a two-car operation after the departure of Paul Menard and the stables full at Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing was Busch’s only possible destination.

As the NASCAR driver market morphed considerably throughout the 2017 season, it’s blatantly obvious why Stewart-Haas declined the option on Busch’s contract. It likely knew that Busch wasn’t going to have many other suitors in the offseason and it also saw the changing landscape of driver contracts.

With high-priced veterans like Dale Earnhardt Jr., Matt Kenseth and Kasey Kahne either retiring or being bought out of their contracts and being replaced by younger and cheaper drivers, it’s logical and possible the team also saw Busch’s 2018 option as being untenable in the upcoming market.

Busch won the 2017 Daytona 500 and made the playoffs in 2017. The 2004 Cup Series champion has 29 career Cup Series wins and has five wins in four seasons with SHR.

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of Dr. Saturday and From the Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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