Kurt Busch believes Kansas Speedway race is pivotal in Sprint Cup chase

It’s hard to get Kurt Busch out of his element, but hand feeding stringrays Wednesday at Crown Center’s Sea Life Aquarium certainly was a new experience.tmpplchld “You just don’t know what you’re going to get with a stingray, the way they come up to you and they want to suck the squid or the fish out of your hand instead of actually using jaws,” Busch said. “Some are aggressive. They’re climbing right over the other one to try to get to the food.”tmpplchld Busch, the 2004 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion, also fed squid to sharks and a bowmouth guitarfish from a pole during a visit to promote the upcoming Chase for the Sprint Cup race on Oct. 18 at Kansas Speedway.tmpplchld “I haven’t fed animals at an aquarium before,” said Busch, who currently sits in seventh place after races in the Chase’s Challenger Round. “I’ve been on a boat trip, where we have stingrays come up to the boat in the Cayman Islands or been out chumming with some buddies. But I’ve never done it in a formal setting like this.”tmpplchld Several of the animals splashed around, jockeying for position as Busch fed them help from the Sea Life staff, but that’s nothing compared with the feeding frenzy that awaits him Sunday during the AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway.tmpplchld Four of the 16 drivers in the Chase will be eliminated after Dover. The remaining 12 drivers will be compete in the Contender Round at Kansas Speedway.tmpplchld The Contender Round kicks off Oct. 10 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and concludes Oct. 25 at Talladega Superspeedway with the top eight moving into the Eliminator Round.tmpplchld Busch, whose best finish at Kansas Speedway is a runner-up finish in 2013, said Kansas Speedway’s Hollywood Casino 400 is pivotal, because no driver wants to be on the bubble heading to Talladega.tmpplchld “I think it’s one of the sleeper races because if you win here, you have a hall pass through Talladega and you don’t want to be one of the guys that have to worry about all of that madness,” Busch said.tmpplchld The upcoming race weekend at Kansas Speedway also features the Full Throttle S’loonshine 98.9, which serves as the season finale for the ARCA Racing Series on Oct. 16, and the NASCAR Xfinity Series Kansas Lottery 300 on Oct. 17.tmpplchld ___tmpplchld (c)2015 The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Mo.)tmpplchld Visit The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Mo.) at www.kansascity.comtmpplchld Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.tmpplchld