If Chicago Cubs make World Series, fan Kurt Busch hopes to go

TALLADEGA, Ala. – Kurt Busch doesn’t want to get ahead of himself. He’s been a Chicago Cubs fan long enough to understand it’s not done until it’s done.

But with the Cubs ahead, three games to two, in the National League Championship Series and hosting the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday, the veteran Sprint Cup driver can’t help but project himself attending the first World Series in Wrigley Field since 1945.

“You can’t put the cart before the horse,” he told USA TODAY Sports after practice at Talladega Superspeedway on Friday. “But Game 2, (Wednesday) in Cleveland, if we make it, and Game 5, which we have to win and they have to lose one and create a Game 5-scenario, would be Sunday night after Martinsville, in Wrigley.

“So, that’s my agenda.”

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He then feigned obliviousness.

“But I haven’t looked at their schedule at all,” he said. “I haven’t researched this at all.”

Busch, who sang Take Me Out to the Ball Game at Wrigley Field in 2011, has managed to attend just one game this season so far, he said. He sat with a group of friends in the Wrigley bleachers just before the Chase for the Sprint Cup began in September.

Busch’s approach to the second-round Chase elimination race is similar to his mindset with the Cubs: don’t assume. The 2004 series champion enters the Talladega race sixth in points, 17 ahead of the eighth-place cut line held by Joey Logano and Austin Dillon. While he has a cushion, this track is famous for multi-car wrecks and the fluidity of aerodynamics and momentum-driven restrictor-plate racing that can scramble standings in an instant.

“We have points in our pocket. It’s a lot better to have a positive point count than a negative point count,” Busch said. “So, the guys that have to go hard are Chase Elliott (12th of a dozen title-eligibles), (Brad) Keselowksi (11th), (Denny) Hamlin (10th) and then you have Logano and Dillon tied. Those are all smart guys.

“You never know how those restarts will go at the end and we’ll see how things play out. There’s no reason to stress extra, because others are stressing, too.”

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