Ganassi NASCAR signing Kurt Busch 'playing it smart' in early races

Busch, who has switched from the Ford-using Stewart Haas Racing squad to Chevrolet runner CGR this year, earned a third at Atlanta and a fifth at Las Vegas last weekend.

That means he is up to eighth in the Cup standings despite only being classified 25th in the Daytona 500 having been caught up in one of the large late crash.

"I'm really happy with two top fives to start the year," said Busch.

"We are playing it smart.

"We haven't had any penalties and we will just keep chipping away at it."

Busch explained that a change to the car in stage two of the Las Vegas race forced an unusual strategy call.

"We made one adjustment and I got really tight in traffic," he said.

"And then our pit strategist was saying if we stay long on the second stage, then we can stay out.

"So we worked that.

"It played out where we got clean air and it completely changed the complexion of the car. And that's what we have to do.

"I've got to get it to where it's balanced evenly.

"But it gave us a lot to learn from and I'm really proud of everybody to get a top five."

Busch's last win came at Bristol in August last year.

His team-mate Kyle Larson is Chevrolet's top drivers in the championship in sixth, having finished seventh, 12th and 12th in the first three rounds.