By: Toby Christie, Editor – Follow on twitter @Toby_Christie

FORT WORTH, Texas — Kurt Busch rocketed to the pole for Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway with a lap that broke a track record and was just shy of a 201 mile-per-hour average.

Busch, 39, was excited to come out on top on an exhilarating day where top speeds were enough to make mortals tinkle in their pants, but interestingly in his post-qualifying press conference, Busch seemed to have one thing on his mind — his pending contract negotiation with his current team Stewart-Haas Racing.

“No updates for me. We are in negotiations. Days like today help quite a bit,” Busch joked when asked about his status for 2018.

The conversation shifted to the line of helping teammates and focusing on your own finishes, and again Busch brought up the negotiations.

“There are different hats you wear. I didn’t have a shot at running top-five at Martinsville but I had a teammate in front of me. It is the small things that add up and when you are in contract negotiations you wave that in front of them as well,” Busch said.

Busch, the 2004 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion, has 29-career wins in the Series including this year’s Daytona 500. It would be hard to fathom him not having a ride next season, but in an ever-changing NASCAR driver market anything is possible.