KURT BUSCH Career Statistics

Kurt Busch Season Statistics

Kurt Busch Track Statistics

(Click the track name to see Kurt Busch's race results at that track.)

Kurt Busch Track Type Statistics

Kurt Busch Bio

Kurt Busch was born on August 4, 1978. He is a native of Las Vegas, Nevada.

He currently races the #2 Miller Lite Dodge in Nextel Cup Series and part time in Busch Series driving the #39 Penske Truck Rental Dodge.

In 2004, he won the NASCAR Nextel Cup series championship , his first NASCAR championship at any level.

Busch drove the #97 Sharpie/Irwin Industrial Tools Ford for Roush Racing in 2005.

He replaced the retiring Rusty Wallace in the No. 2 Roger Penske owned, Miller Lite sponsored Dodge Charger starting in 2006. With a recent win in the Busch Series he became one of only 16 drivers with a win in all three of NASCAR's top divisions (Nextel Cup, Busch, and Craftsman Truck Series).

Kurt is a second-generation NASCAR driver and winner of the inaugural 'Chase for the NEXTEL Cup' in 2004, Busch was also the runner-up finisher in the closest finish in the sport’s history at Darlington Raceway on March 16, 2003. After an exciting and near-explosive two-lap side-by-side battle with Ricky Craven around the tight and tricky 1.366-mile track, Craven crossed the finish line only 0.002 seconds ahead of Busch in the photo-finish.

Kurt was a competitor in the NASCAR Autozone Elite Division Southwest Tour and gained his first national exposure whilst competing against drivers like Ron Hornaday, Matt Crafton, Greg Biffle, Chris Trickle, and Kevin Harvick in the 1998 Winter Heat Series at Tucson Raceway Park.

Busch earned his big break with tragedy. Chris Trickle was shot in a mysterious shooting (Trickle would die of the injuries over a year later), and the Star Nursery team looked for a new driver to replace Trickle in the #70 team. Busch inherited the ride for the team and won the 1999 AutoZone Elite Division Southwest Series championship.

That led to a tryout in a Roush Racing "Gong Show", which he won and earned a Craftsman Truck Series ride. He caused controversy when Jack Roush invited him to race in the (then) Winston Cup Series (later renamed when Nextel took over the series sponsorship), without any experience from the "junior" Busch Grand National Series, whilst overlooking Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch's more experienced teammate.

Busch began racing on the Winston Cup circuit in 2000, at the age of 21. He drove in 7 races, with no wins, top 5's, or top 10's, and finished 48th in the standings that year, with Jeff Hammond as crew chief. (NASCAR permits teams to make no more than seven starts in a season to preserve rookie status.)

Busch ran for rookie of the year honors in 2001, driving 35 of 36 races with no wins, although Kurt collected 3 top 5's and 6 top 10's that year. He also won his first pole position by timing the quickest qualifying lap in the Mountain Dew Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. Kurt finished 27th in the standings that year.

Busch almost won the championship in 2002, getting four wins, 12 top 5s and 20 top 10s, with one pole. He finished 3rd in the standings that year. He also collected $5,105,394.

Busch had an up and down year in 2003, earning four wins, nine top 5s and 14 top 10s while finishing a disappointing 11th in the standings, although he collected $5,000,000+ dollars again that year. It was a season marred by an ongoing feud with fellow driver Jimmy Spencer. After some car-to-car bumping at a race at the Michigan International Speedway, Jimmy Spencer reached into Busch's car, grabbed him, and punched Busch in the nose. Kurt first claimed that his car stalled our in front of Spencer's garage, though audio later sounded as though he stopped the car, and threatened Spencer from his car. Spencer was forced to sit out the next weeks race, and both drivers were fined and placed on probation for the rest of the year.

The altercation harmed Busch's relationship with fans significantly. He has since attempted to repair this image through charitable donations and many public appearances where he interacts with fans. In the February 2006 edition of GQ Magazine, he was selected number 3 on their list of the top ten most hated athletes.

Busch left Roush Racing and joined Penske Racing South in 2006. Busch had asked team owner Jack Roush to let him out of his contract at the end of the 2005 season to replace the retiring Rusty Wallace in the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger, but Roush initially refused. However, after Chip Ganassi released Jamie McMurray from his 2006 contract, Roush followed suit. McMurray replaced Busch in the car, which was later renumbered from #97 to #26.

Source: Wikipedia GNU