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GLENDORA, Calif. — Former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Kurt Busch will make his competitive drag racing debut during this weekend’s 41st running of the Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway.

The driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge for Penske Racing will get behind the wheel of his rebuilt 1970 Dodge Challenger to compete against a field of between 70 and 90 Super Gas racers.

Busch will make a minimum of three time trial passes Thursday and the field will return Friday morning, pair off, and begin eliminations.

“Gainesville is one of the marquee events on the NHRA calendar and it’s a privilege to compete against the best Sportsman racers out there,” Busch said.

Super Gas is one of seven different Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series (LODRS) classes that will be contested at the Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals. The LODRS is NHRA’s sportsman series that is home to a wide variety of racers from hobbyists to highly competitive, highly-invested teams to young drivers with aspirations to move up to the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series.

Busch bought the Dodge Challenger in 2008 and began the process of getting it into race shape in March of 2009. The car is powered by a stroked 6.1 liter Hemi, weighs 3,000 pounds and puts out 1,167 horsepower.

While Busch feels at home behind the wheel of his Sprint Cup car he is aware that this will be a new and exciting environment for him.

“Sportsman racing is no different than any other type of racing, you need seat time,” Busch said. “I spent over 30 hours at Roy Hill’s drag racing school, and have had two tests in my own Challenger, but that’s nowhere compared to the seat time many of these guys have in their own cars. We are going to go out there and do our best competing against these talented Sportsman racers.”

Busch’s love affair with drag racing began back in the early 1990s when he met a pair of Las Vegas based NHRA racers — George Marnell, a Pro Stock racer, and Dave Bush, a Super Comp competitor. When Kurt began driving in the Sprint Cup Series for Penske Racing, he got to know NHRA Top Fuel champion Larry Dixon, as they were both sponsored by Miller Lite at the time.

He got the idea to compete in an NHRA event after taking part in the opening night of zMAX Dragway in Concord, N.C., in September of 2008 and one of the rare off-weekends in the NASCAR schedule coincided with next weekend’s 41st running of the prestigious Tire Kingdom NHRA Gatornationals.