History of NASCAR Drivers: Part 3: Kurt Busch

So Kurt Busch won the race after his little brother Kyle which means the elder Busch is next...

Kurt Busch
#2 Miller Lite Dodge Charger
Penske Racing
Starts (as of 3/11/09): 296
Wins: 19
Top 5s: 63
Top 10s: 118
Poles: 10

Kurt Busch, like his brother Kyle, was born in Las Vegas, NV, and raced in the same circuits Kyle did while growing up. Kurt was born August 5, 1978, and has become overshadowed by his younger brother, despite Kurt himself already having a Cup Series championship under his belt. Kurt Busch used to be a huge dickhead like his brother but has recently mellowed, possibly due to getting punched in the face by Jimmy Spencer, getting suspended by Roush during his last two races in the #97, and his marriage to Eva Bryan.

2000

Kurt Busch started in the Truck Series but found himself in the #97 John Deere Ford with Roush for seven races in 2000, preparing his way for his rookie season in 2001. He had decent success in his seven starts, finishing in the top 20 three times and finishing no lower than 37th. John Deere would not stay with Busch for his rookie season...

2001

As a rookie, Kurt Busch did not fare so well. First of all, he was without a sponsor for the first seven races of the season until Sharpie eventually signed on, a relationship that lasted for the rest of his tenure at Roush Racing via the Newell Rubbermaid company. 2001 was a struggle as Busch recorded only three top 5s, 6 top 10s to go along with a pole. A low point came in his season when he failed to qualify for the second to last race of the season, at Atlanta, and finished 27th in points, losing rookie of the year honors to Kevin Harvick.

His Sharpie paint scheme uses the idea of a Sharpie marker drawing all over his car, perfectly blending his sponsor with the paint scheme.

2002

If 2001 was a struggle, 2002 was by far the opposite. Rubbermaid relegated Sharpie to just one of many products owned by Rubbermaid and became the primary sponsor. It was also the year of Kurt Busch's first Cup Series wins, which would also be his first of five wins at Bristol. He would go on to win back-to-back races at Martinsville and Atlanta and then win from the pole at the season ender in Homestead, recording four wins for the season. He saw himself finishing in the top 5 12 times and in the top 10 20 times. His final points standings was an amazing 24 point swing from 2001 as he finished third in points, behind only Tony Stewart and Mark Martin.

2003

While he matched his wins from the previous year - sweeping Bristol and also winning at sister tracks California and Michigan - he would not fare as well in 2003. With only nine top 5s and 14 top 10s, he finished 11th in points. However, his new uniquely colored silver and red Rubbermaid Ford would go down in history with its involvement in the closest electronically scored finish in NASCAR history, losing to Ricky Craven at Darlington by only .002 seconds.

2004

The beginning of the Nextel Cup era was kind to Kurt Busch. Rubbermaid decided to go for a split sponsorship between its Sharpie (and its playful scribble paint scheme) and Irwin Tools (with its boring plain blue paint scheme) brands. 2004 was definately a career year for Kurt, even though he recorded one less win than the previous two years. He won yet again at Bristol for his fourth career win there and swept at New Hampshire. With the first Chase lineup in NASCAR, Kurt Busch was not considered the favorite to win the championship. However, he went on to record top ten finishes in all but one of the Chase races. The one race he didn't finish was a 42nd place finish at Atlanta, which bunched up the points standings. Kurt Busch was also prevented from a 43rd place finish by none other than his little brother Kyle, who DNFed in 43rd. For the season ender at Homestead, a horseshoe was shoved up his ass. He not only won the pole, but he somehow got incredibly lucky when his entire wheel came off his car while heading for pit road during the green flag, causing a caution to come out. If it weren't for the wheel coming off, his unscheduled pit stop would have sent him a lap down. He also missed hitting the pit road wall by inches. He ended up winning the championship by only eight points over Jimmie Johnson and 16 points over Jeff Gordon, the closest finish in NASCAR history. Kurt Busch recorded ten top 5s and 21 top 10s in his championship year.

2005

Kurt Busch followed his championship year with much promise but an announcement during 2005 shocked all of NASCAR: He would leave Roush Racing at the end of the 2005 to replace a retiring Rusty Wallace in the famous Blue Deuce. With everybody questioning his reasoning for leaving a team that had just won a championship, he won three more races - at Phoenix, Pocono, and Richmond - and finished in the top 5 nine times and the top 10 18 times. He also made the Chase for the second year in a row. However, a run-in with the police while the Series was in Phoenix allowed Roush to make his excuse to dump the driver who decided to leave him. Kurt Busch was suspended by Roush Racing for the final two races of the season and was replaced by Kenny Wallace for those two races. Kurt Busch still finished in the top ten - in 10th - thanks to the Chase which did not allow anybody outside the top ten to finish higher than 11th.

For some reason, Sharpie removed its scribbles from the paint scheme this year and Irwin Tools went to a lighter shade of blue.

2006-2007

The learning curve in his new ride proved to be troublesome. 2006 was almost as trying as his rookie year, especially since he had won the championship two years prior. His lone win that year came at Bristol, but he had a career high six poles that year to show the speed the car had. He did not fare as well as he hoped, though, with only seven top 5s and 12 top 10s. He also missed the Chase and finished way off the mark in 16th. Rather amusingly, he finished the season the way he started: with a crash resulting in a DNF.

2007 was a little bit better for Kurt Busch in the #2 Dodge. Even though he had one less top 5 (6) and two more top 10s (14) than the previous year, he won two races and made the Chase. His wins came at Pocono and Michigan and he finished 7th in the points standings.

2008-2009

But his comeback in 2007 did not last. 2008 was a struggle for Kurt Busch, his lone win coming not from his performance on the track but from gambling in the pits with the oncoming rain, winning a rain shortened race at New Hampshire. He recorded a miserable five top 5s and ten top 10s and finished 18th in the final points standings. Many thought Kurt Busch's time was up.

But so far in 2009 he's proving his critics wrong. After only four races into the season, he already has two top 5s, three top 10s, and a dominating win at Atlanta. He also currently sits third in points, behind Jeff Gordon and a surprising Clint Bowyer (he seems to surprise a lot). He could have had four top 10s, after having a strong car at Las Vegas, but a pesky engine cylinder stunted his run.

As for his paint scheme, nothing much changed except for the new car and the replacement of the white along the bottom trim with a lighter shade of blue.

Notable Special Schemes
2002 Little Tykes
Rubbermaid promoted its toddler toy line with a win at Homestead.





2004 Coca-Cola C2
Coca-Cola invaded the Pepsi 400 at Daytona with special Coca-Cola C2 paint schemes for all of its Coca-Cola Racing Family drivers.




2004 Superman
DC Comics and a few of the Ford teams joined together to promote the superheroes of the comic books at Michigan. Kurt Busch ran the Superman scheme.



2005 Crown Royal
Crown Royal began to pop up on the #97 (soon to be #26) in numerous races in 2005.




2005 Smirnoff Ice
Smirnoff Ice jumped from the #17 to the #97.





2007 World Beer Cup
Gold paint scheme to congratulate Miller Lite on its World Beer Cup win. Used in the Bud Shootout.

History of NASCAR Drivers: Part 2: Kyle Busch

Ugh, I absolutely despise Kyle Busch, that little butt monkey. Unfortunately the little bitch won the race at Las Vegas so he's next on my NASCAR history thingamabob.

Kyle Busch
#18 M&M's Toyota Camry
Joe Gibbs Racing
Starts (as of 3/2/09): 153
Wins: 13
Top 5s: 49
Top 10s: 74
Poles: 5

Kyle Busch was born in Las Vegas, NV, on May 2, 1985. He and his brother Kurt raced in numerous circuits in the southwest and when Las Vegas Motor Speedway opened up, they both aimed at winning at their hometown track. Kyle Busch was the first to do so, just yesterday in fact, as he continues to take the Sprint Cup Series by storm. The little punkass has a vendetta against Hendrick Motorsports got giving him the boot when Dale Earnhardt, Jr. became available, but the little asshole deserves it because he needs a punching from Jimmy Spencer. Spencer punching his older brother seemed to have set Kurt Busch straight so we need it to happen to Kyle, that little cock.

2004

Kyle Busch made his Cup Series debut at his home track of Las Vegas in Hendrick's #84 CarQuest Chevrolet. Kyle Busch would go on to race in six events and failing to qualify three times, at Texas, New Hampshire, and Michigan. His results in this few races would be misleading to the pure talent he would showcase in 2008 as his highest finish in 2004 was 24th and he had DNFs in four of the six races.

2005-2006

With Terry Labonte stepping aside from full-time racing, Kyle Busch stepped in to take over the famous #5 Kellogg's ride in 2005. Kyle Busch would break through with two wins, at California (becoming the youngest driver to ever win a Cup Series race) and Phoenix, and would easily win Rookie of the Year honors, despite his very inconsistent racing that relegated him to a 20th-place finish in the standings (it helps that Travis Kvapil was his only competition for ROTY honors). He also won his first career pole in only his second of that season.

The next year would prove Kyle Busch was not a fluke, despite winning only one time at New Hampshire. He would make the Chase for his first time but faltered right off the bat with a crash and a blown engine in the first two races of the the Chase. He would finish off the year in 10th as he would go on to record only 3 top tens in the Chase.

As for the paint scheme, it was pretty ugly. For some reason, Hendrick and Kellogg's decided to change the paint scheme from the famous blue and tiger-striped car to an ugly bright yellow and blue car. It's a color scheme the #5 car still has today as it went through the hands of Casey Mears and Mark Martin after Busch was booted. 2005 would begin the entertainment industry's fascination with Kyle Busch in using him to promote movies and TV shows. 2005 would bring us Robots, Star Wars - Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, and Johnny Bravo schemes. Some 2006 special schemes featured Ice Age 2 and Cars. Other sponsors that stepped in to sponsor him were, in both years, CarQuest, Cheez-It, and Delphi.

2007

In 2007, Kyle Busch would have another great year, despite once again only winning once, this time at Bristol (where he infamously said the then new Car of Tomorrow "sucked"), and was the first driver to win in the COT, won Hendrick's 200th race, and won Chevrolet's 600th race. He made the Chase for the second year in a row and finished fifth in the points standings. Kellogg's would step back from a full sponsorship role and enter into a co-primary sponsorship deal with CarQuest where each company would split the sponsorship during the year, a practice many teams do now. It would be all Kellogg's and CarQuest this season with Cheez-It sponsoring at Texas and California. No movies graced his car this year. However, it was learned Kyle Busch would be essentially fired from the team despite his success, a move many people attributed to Kyle Busch's attitude, and replaced by Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

The paint scheme essentially remained about the same except a flash of red was added for whatever reason. The colors make no sense since Kellogg's and CarQuest do not have that color scheme.

2008

2008 would become Kyle Busch's breakthough season where he would become a threat to win every single race on the circuit. After being booted from Hendrick's #5 ride, Joe Gibbs Racing readily snatched him up for the #18 car, which featured a new sponsor in M&M's. Kyle Busch had a mission to make a fool of Hendrick and his decision to let Kyle Busch go. He dominated the series, at least until the Chase came around. He won a whopping eight races, a feat that was amazingly beaten by Carl Edwards' 9 wins that season, at Atlanta, Talladega, Darlington, Dover, Sonoma, Daytona, Chicagoland, and Watkins Glen, showing everybody he could win at any track at any time. When the Chase started, however, the wheels fell off the younger Busch's season. A repeat of the 2006 Chase happened. He wrecked in the first race and blew an engine in the second race. Despite dominating the regular season, he fell apart during the Chase. He had as many finishes outside the top ten as he did finishes inside the top ten and wound up 10th in the points standings, after leading the points for the majority of the regular season.

Some of his major secondary sponsors had primary sponsorships for him in select races, such as Interstate Batteries, Pedigree, and Snickers. He also drove an M&M-themed Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull car and an M&M's Halloween scheme. He also showed up pink when he drove a pink car at Charlotte to promote breast cancer awareness and the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

2009

Kyle Busch expects to return to form in 2009, even though it started out not so good. He was the dominant car at the Daytona 500, leading the most laps, when he was taken out in the Big One, ruining his day. He recovered the next race, though, with a third-place finish and then won the third race at Las Vegas, his home track.

Notable Special Schemes
2005 Star Wars - Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Ran at Richmond to promote the final movie in the Star Wars prequel trilogy.




2008 Interstate Batteries
Long-time Joe Gibbs Racing and #18 sponsor Interstate Batteries stepped down from its primary sponsorship but still sponsors the car for select races, and from what I heard at considerable discount since Gibbs feels he owes the company much for being there since the beginning.

2008 Snickers
Flames on a riveted metal scheme, which really has nothing to do with Snickers but it's still pretty interesting looking. He won the first ever race for Toyota with this scheme.



2008 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Indiana Jones won at Darlington in a promotion for the newest Indiana Jones movie. It was M&M's themed with the green M&M on the hood wearing the trademark fedora and whip.



2008 Susan G. Komen Foundation
Kyle Busch loved his pink race car that was used at Charlotte. It was used to promote breast cancer awareness along with a few other cars.



2008 Halloween M&M's
Another fun M&M's-themed scheme (I love the M&M-themed special paint schemes) where the M&M characters dressed up for Halloween at Atlanta.



2009 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Another "Revenge" scheme for Kyle Busch but this time the red M&M is posing as Optimus Prime on the hood. It will run at Sonoma to promote the sequel to 2007's Transformers.