NASCAR: Roush won't let Busch go in '06

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. - Nextel Cup champion Kurt Busch will be back to fulfill the final year of his contract with Roush Racing because his car owner will not let him go early.

Jack Roush said Busch sought a release for 2006 after telling him earlier this week that he had a deal for 2007 with Roger Penske.

"He said, 'I don't want to negotiate with you for 2007,'" Roush recalled Friday at Watkins Glen International. "I said, OK, and he said, 'I want to be released for 2006.' I said not OK."

Busch said he understood, and is focused on winning another title or two before moving to Penske. He has called the Penske ride an "opportunity of a lifetime," and a challenge to prove he can win with a different team.

He's hoping something still can be worked out that will permit him to move into the No. 2 Dodge next season, but didn't sound optimistic.

"It's Jack's decision," he said. "We'll see what happens."

Roush already is faced with trying to fill one of his five cars for next season. He has signed Jamie McMurray to replace Mark Martin in 2007, but is leaning on Martin to delay by a year his retirement from full-time Cup racing. Martin wants to move to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck series next season.

McMurray wants to leave Chip Ganassi Racing after 2005. Like Busch, he can't get out of the final year of his contract.

"That's not even on the radar screen," Ganassi said before the cars began practice for Sunday's Sirius Satellite Radio at the Glen. "His status has always been the same."

Busch said there would be no letdown in his level of intensity, whether it be practice, qualifying or racing.

On the track, he posted the 16th-fastest time among 46 cars before rain chased them off the 2.45-mile road course.

Defending race champion Tony Stewart, an overwhelming favorite to win for the fifth time in seven races, was much faster than anyone else.

He took his Chevrolet around the 11-turn layout at 122.052 mph. Scott Pruett was next at 120.447.