AVONDALE, Ariz. -- The story can now be told: Penske Racing driver Kurt Busch is a candidate for president of the Jimmie Johnson Fan Club.

At least for a day, that is.

“

I don't know if I'm supposed to talk about my team and my crew right now or what Jimmie [Johnson] is doing in this sport. We were pretty good [Sunday], but we weren't that good.

”

-- KURT BUSCH

But after finishing second to Johnson in Sunday's Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway, Busch said he's not a candidate for a seat at Johnson's Hendrick Motorsports; or anywhere else, for that matter.

"We had a great car [Sunday] and we got beat by an even better team," Busch said. "I don't know if I'm supposed to talk about my team and my crew right now or what Jimmie is doing in this sport. We were pretty good [Sunday], but we weren't that good [as Johnson's No. 48 team]."

Make no mistake; Busch was trying to liven the day up for the fans, as well as the promoters of next weekend's season finale Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, who were praying for more of a battle between Johnson and Carl Edwards for the championship.

"I had as a game plan to at least get close enough to [Johnson] to make him think big picture and to force him into actually making it cross his mind," Busch said of his late-race stalking attempt. "I just couldn't get that close. Of course I want to race a guy clean when he's running for the championship -- I would want him to do the same for me.

"It was a matter of trying to get to his bumper, but I couldn't quite get there. I couldn't quite put enough pressure on him. I knew that I had all the race fans up on their seats. I was hoping to put on a good show, wanting to get there -- wanting to get next to him.

"I wanted to win for our team, but just came up a bit short. We got beat by a really good team."

During the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup championship playoffs, in which he's accrued the third-most points in the unofficial "Chased-Out standings" for drivers not in the official Chase behind David Ragan and Jamie McMurray, Busch has intermittently challenged to right a season that started great but has mostly gone oh-so-wrong.

After a one-two Penske finish in the season-opening Daytona 500 behind Ryan Newman, Busch's season has spiraled to his current 18th position in the standings, with only 10 top-10s to show, though four of them have come in the nine Chase races. (Continued)