The People’s Guide To Kurt Busch

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Kurt Busch was hated.

Busch wasn’t representative of NASCAR’s core audience. He wasn’t a small town Southern boy who rose to stardom like Richard Petty or Dale Earnhardt. He wasn’t from the midwest, which has its own proud racing tradition, like Jeff Gordon or Tony Stewart. No, he was from what was previously considered a racing dead zone: Las Vegas. He also, more or less, lucked into his start in NASCAR-sanctioned racing. See, Chris Trickle got injured in a shooting accident that would unfortunately take his life. His team in the now-defunct NASCAR Winter Heat Series turned to Kurt to replace him. To his credit, he showed some actual talent, competing with Ron Hornaday Jr (the all time leader in Truck Series wins among full time Truck Series drivers), Matt Crafton (three time Truck Series Champion), Greg Biffle (former champion in Trucks and Xfinity Series who came close to a Cup Series championship), and Kevin Harvick (2014 Cup Series Champion). He parlayed this success into two full time late model racing seasons, winning Rookie of the Year in 1998 and the series championship in 1999. From there, he got a call from Jack Roush.

I’m just gonna cut to the chase, Kurt Busch won his first ride in the NASCAR National Series from a TV show. Now, to be fair, the Cat in the Hat did vet Kurt Busch both on and off the track, but still, TV show. Not a great look. He got a Truck Series ride in the #99 Ford. He only raced one full season in Trucks, but made the most of it, he won at Milwaukee, New Hampshire, Dover, and Fontana, all while coming in second for the series championship. Roush called him up to the big leagues, in the #97 Ford.

Kurt didn’t do much his rookie season, a top 5 here, a pole award there, but no wins. He even failed to qualify for a race. But his sophomore season of 2002 was the start of Kurt Busch’s breakout, and the start of Kurt Busch, the Villain of NASCAR. He won races, four to be exact, and finished third in the season standings. He also chose to pick a fight or two, with one of the most popular drivers in the sport: Mr. Excitement himself, Jimmy Spencer. It actually started in 2001, where Spencer spun out Kurt at Phoenix. It didn’t seem like much, you know, rubbin’ is racin’, all that stuff. Then Kurt responded by dumping Spencer in Bristol en route to his first win. As Spencer said, “Jimmy never forgets”, and Jimmy did not forget, wrecking Kurt at the Brickyard. Kurt would get out of his car and dare Spencer to run him over. He never did, but in a post-race interview, Kurt would call out Spencer for being a has been, before correcting himself and calling him a never was. The next season at Michigan, it finally came to blows, with Spencer throwing a punch at Kurt in the garage area. This was where NASCAR drew the line. They suspended Spencer, fined him, and very nearly had him arrested. The Kurt Busch-Jimmy Spencer Rivalry came to a swift end, but his reputation would only get worse.

In 2004, NASCAR decided they needed to be more like the NFL, MLB, NHL, and NBA, and instituted an unnecessary playoff format, The Chase for the Cup. They strayed too far from their core fanbase, trying to appeal to more traditional sports fans when the sport was at its most popular. The Chase format has tweaked slightly over the years, but to this day, it remains controversial among NASCAR’s fanbase. Who was the first winner of the newly renamed Nextel Cup in the Chase era? Here’s a better question: would I be bringing this up at all if it wasn’t Kurt Busch? He won at Bristol and swept the New Hampshire races, and after the season finale at Homestead, Kurt claimed the Nextel Cup by eight points. Is it fair to put this on Kurt Busch? Not at all! Do people still hold it against him? Well, it certainly didn’t help his reputation!

Then he bailed on The Cat in the Hat. After his failure to defend the Cup in 2005, he bolted from Roush Racing to replace a legend in Rusty Wallace in the #2 Miller Lite Dodge, better known as the Blue Deuce, for Team Penske. This was the peak of his hatred. Only Barry Bonds and Terrell Owens were more hated as pro athletes in America. For five seasons with the Blue Deuce, he’d put up mediocre numbers. He wasn’t bad, he’d win 8 races in total, but wouldn’t finish higher than 4th in the Chase and would finish out of the top 10 in points three times in total. In 2011, he’d move over to Penske’s #22 team and put up another middling season despite winning two more races and he’d burn all bridges with Penske. He’d get into an argument with an ESPN Camera Op, he’d flip off his own team members, and that would do it. He was gone, and had to take any ride he could get.

To the #51 Chevrolet for Phoenix Racing for the 2012 season it was. To many NASCAR fans, he finally got what he deserved. Now, for once, Kurt Busch was the underdog. This was the worst season of his career, and Kurt’s antics were now a source of entertainment. Kurt Busch Radio Sweetheart was a frequent segment on Speed Channel, hosted by who else but his longtime rival Jimmy Spencer. Kurt, as you might expect, didn’t change his ways. He nearly ran over members of opposing pit crews, got placed on probation, and said that had he not been on probation, he’d be “beating the shit” out of an interviewer. That would get him suspended for one race, and later, he’d get cut by Phoenix before the season ended, the bottom of all rock bottoms. In a cruel twist of fate, Brad Keselowski, the man who replaced Kurt in the Blue Deuce, would cap off the 2012 season with the Sprint Cup Championship.

But he rebounded.

Kurt ended up at Furniture Row Racing’s #78 Toyota, needing a driver to finish out the season, and in the final three races, he’d record three top 10s. It was enough to re-up him for 2013. He had the best season since his prime with the Blue Deuce, even if he didn’t win a race. Gene Haas of Stewart-Haas Racing gave him a ride in the #41 Ford, paying for it entirely out of pocket. He’d end his winless streak in the 2014 Martinsville Spring Race, his first win since 2011. In 2015, he’d have his first multi-win season since 2011. In 2016, he’d have his highest finish in the Chase since 2009. In 2017, he’d win the Great American Race: The Daytona 500. In 2018, he set career highs for pole awards and top 10s. And in 2019, he moved to Chip Ganassi Racing in the #1 Chevrolet and was in an all time finish vs his brother Kyle at Kentucky, and serves as a veteran leader to Kyle Larson, one of the brightest young talents in the sport. He signed a multi-year extension, meaning he’s not going anywhere for a while. He came all the way back.

Kurt Busch went from hated to beloved.