“Seeing him in a hospital; I got to learn a whole different Tony”: When Kurt Busch revealed seeing an unknown side of his SHR boss Stewart

After a single full-time season at Furniture Row Racing, Kurt Busch announced that he'd join Stewart-Haas Racing at the beginning of the 2014 season. The 2002 Cup Series champion exited his former team on a historic note, registering FRR's first-ever playoff entry.

But before officially beginning his maiden season with the Tony Stewart-led team, Busch used to visit the North Carolina shop to get accustomed to how things functioned in the organization. The NASCAR champion was about to share the roster with Stewart, Kevin Harvick, and Danica Patrick.

Busch has known Stewart as the intimidating driver with a fierce and unapologetic attitude, on and off the track. They once got involved in a brawl following the 2008 Daytona 500 race when the latter allegedly punched the former inside a hauler.

However, when Kurt Busch spent time with the hospitalized, recovering, and off-track Stewart, he observed a different side of the three-time Cup Series champion. Stewart got into a serious sprint car accident that broke his right leg and had a rod placed in his leg.

“Seeing him at the hospital, seeing him at his house recovering, spending time with him at track when he wasn’t racing — I got to learn a whole different Tony, versus the competitor Tony I had always raced against. So the timelines worked out really well,” Busch said via NASCAR.

Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick quickly developed a working relationship. They were about to begin their maiden season at SHR and had previously worked together as their former teams -FRR and Richard Childress Racing shared an alliance.

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"We know that success needs to be obtained": Kurt Busch on embarking on a new journey with SHR

Since registering his rookie season in 2001 with Roush Racing (now RFK), Kurt Busch secured full-time rides year after year without fail. The streak continued until the end of the 2011 season when he drove for Penske Racing.

He ran a full-time schedule in 2012. However, his responsibilities were divided between Phoenix Racing and Furniture Row Racing. He ended the season on a winless note but inked a full-time deal with FRR. Even though he failed to claim a win in 2013, his performance was sufficient to mark his team's first playoff entry.

Now that he joined SHR's elite roster after his time at Roush and Penske Racing, where he netted 24 wins and the title, Busch expressed the need to obtain success. He said (via NASCAR).

“We know that success needs to be obtained. (Crew chief) Daniel Knost said to me the other day, ‘I don’t want to let you down.’ I said, ‘Don’t think of it that way. Think of it as, we know where we need to be by the cutoff for the Chase. We know where we are right now. Let’s just draw a nice, linear line on how we’re going to get there. And we’re going to have to be ready by the time the Chase starts.’ So it’s been nice, with our goals that we’ve set.”

Kurt Busch would wrap up his maiden SHR season in 12th place, while his teammate Kevin Harvick would claim his first and only NASCAR Cup Series championship.