Kurt Busch
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Kurt Busch (born August 4, 1978 in Las Vegas, Nevada) is an American stock car racer who competes in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series of auto races. In 2004, he won his first series championship. Busch drives car #97, sponsored by Sharpie pens, Irwin Tools and Crown Royal for Roush Racing.
Busch started his career in driving in Craftsman Truck Series. He made a controversy when Jack Roush invited him to race in the (then) Winston Cup Series (later renamed when Nextel took over series sponsorship, without any experience in the "junior" Busch Grand National Series.
Busch began racing on the Winston Cup circuit in 2000, at the age of 21. He made his debut in 2000. He drove in 7 races, with no wins, top 5's, or top 10's for that matter. He finished 48th in the standings that year.
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 got a pole qualifying position that year, 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 US$5 million+ dollars again that year. However, his season was marred by an ongoing feud with fellow driver Jimmy Spencer. After some bumping at a race at the Michigan International Speedway, Spencer bumped Busch with his car following the race and the two came to blows. Both drivers were fined and placed on probation for the rest of the year. The altercation harmed Busch's relationship with fans significantly. Viewed as having a bad attitude, he remains one of NASCAR's least popular drivers, even in leiu of his championship win. He has since attempted to repair this image, but a tirade following his first-lap spin-out in 2005 at Darlington Raceway hindered these efforts.
In 2004, Busch won the Nextel Cup by 8 points over Jimmie Johnson and 16 points over Jeff Gordon. In 2005, Kurt's brother Kyle Busch will join him on the Nextel Cup docket.
Despite a roller-coaster of a 2005 season, including a last-place finish in the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Busch has managed to remain in contention for the Chase for the Cup. As of June 20,2005, he is ranked 9th in the Nextel Cup standings.
External Link
- Career statistics at Racing-Reference.com (http://www.racing-reference.com/driver?id=buschku01)