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.

History of NASCAR Drivers: Part 1: Matt Kenseth

Here is a series of articles I will be doing (and I don't know if I'll have specific days I'll update) where I will go through one driver at a time and his history via his paint schemes. I will try to get all of a driver's primary paint schemes but keep in mind decent quality photos pre-2000 are somewhat hard to come by so I'll do my best. I'll also highlight, if relevant, notable special schemes, like Jeff Gordon's infamous Jurassic Park scheme used in the 1997 Winston. As for the drivers I choose to highlight, it'll mostly be based on what's actually going on on the track. This week it will be Matt Kenseth since he's the focus of attention right now with his Daytona 500 victory and becoming one of the very few drivers to win the first two races of the season. So here we go.

Matt Kenseth
#17 DeWalt Ford Fusion
Roush Fenway Racing
Starts (as of 2/27/09): 330
Wins: 18
Top 5s: 89
Top 10s: 164
Poles: 3

Matt Kenseth was born in Cambridge, Wisconsin on March 10, 1972. He is currently married to Katie Kenseth and has a son named Ross from a previous relationship. Kenseth would rise in the ranks of Wisconsin racers and win multiple titles in his home state, developing a rivalry with fellow race car driver - and future crew chief - Robbie Reiser. His big break came in 1997 when Reiser's driver in the Busch Series (now Nationwide Series) was injured and he needed a replacement. Kenseth received a phone call from his former rival and the two became a pair unseparable until 2008 when Reiser was promoted within the Roush organization and Kenseth had a new crew chief for the first time in his NASCAR career.

1998

With Bill Elliott deciding to skip the 1998 MBNA Gold 400 at Dover Downs International Speedway (now Dover International Speedway) in order to attend his father's funeral, Matt Kenseth was tapped to fill in for Elliott in his crazy looking #94 McDonald's Big Mac Ford. Kenseth would start his first career Winston Cup race, after previously failing to qualifying at Talladega in Roush's #60 Peterbilt Ford. What was even more astounding was Kenseth's sixth-place finish in his first Cup Series race, the third best debut in NASCAR history.

1999-2000

1999 would be Matt Kenseth's debut in the #17 DeWalt Ford he still drives to this day. It was a short rookie schedule of five races, to get Kenseth used to the rigors of Winston Cup racing. Like most rookies, his five-race campaign did not go very well, although he did have a fourth-place finish to highlight his first year with DeWalt and Roush at the Cup level. However, he had DNFs in three of the five races and had finishes of 14th, 35th, 37th, and 40th to go with his fourth-place finish.

In 2000, he would start a very successful career at NASCAR's highest level of racing. As a rookie, he earned his first win in the Coca-Cola 600, garnered 4 top 5s and 11 top 10s, and finished 14th in the standings, beating NASCAR's favorite son Dale Earnhardt, Jr. for Rookie of the Year. His full-time debut in the Cup Series is far from the level of consistency he showcases today.

The paint scheme used from 1999 to 2000 exhibits the familiar black and gold colors of the DeWalt brand, a long standing partnership that has been together for ten years. While the design of the scheme itself would change over the years, the black and gold DeWalt colors would remain the same.

2001

The 2001 season was somewhat of a sophomore slump for Kenseth, although he did finish one spot higher in the points in 13th. An extra two races were added to the schedule to increase it from 34 to 36 but Kenseth merely tied the number of top 5s he earned in 2000 and fell short of top 10s with nine. He also failed to win a race, something that would not happen again until 2008. Once again, he was still in the process of becoming the highly consistent driver of today.

His 2001 paint scheme was essentially the same as the previous year except the black trim along the bottom was replaced with a silver trim. AT&T also sponsored the #17 for a few races.

2002

Kenseth's breakout year came in 2002 when he won a career high five races (Rockingham, Texas, Michigan, and Richmond), which was also the most wins by a single driver that year (where has that parity gone when we had three drivers win two-thirds of the races in 2008?). He also recorded his first career pole, at Dover, something that is a very rare occurrence (his other two poles came in the same year in 2005). His consistency would begin to show up here, a trait that would essentially change the face of NASCAR in the future, despite what the bigwigs say. Kenseth would also finish in the top ten for the first time, in eighth, and would continue to finish in the top ten in points every year until 2008.

Here his paint schemes would become a little more elaborate and detailed. For 2002, he sported a riveted look, as if it was put together by one of the DeWalt tools that sponsor him. AT&T continued to be a primary sponsor on the #17 for a select few races.

2003

Matt Kenseth would definately become the model of consistency in 2003, a year where he steadily whupped the competition with quality finishes (a whopping 25 top tens) to win Roush Racing's first ever championship... despite only winning one time, at Las Vegas. His average finish of 10.2 easily put him ahead of his competition as NASCAR looked towards 2004 for a change in the points system and the introduction of the Chase, a development many attribute to Kenseth's dominating performance for the championship in 2003.

The championship winning paint scheme continues the riveted look but places the focus back on DeWalt's yellow colors. Smirnoff Ice would join the stable of associate sponsors and would be the primary for a few races. Carhartt would also rise as one of Kenseth's biggest sponsors, with a one-race primary sponsorship at Charlotte.

2004

It looked as if Matt Kenseth would be a serious threat to win a second championship when he started the season with four top tens, with two wins in a row at the final race at Rockingham and at Las Vegas. But the Chase was a new beast and Kenseth's typical consistency failed him in the final ten races of the season when he recorded only one top five and one top ten, a second place finish at the Chase opening race in New Hampshire. In the Chase he would suffer three DNFs and seven finishes of 16th or worse. He would finish out the season eighth in points.

Smirnoff Ice would continue to be primary for a few more races and Carhartt gave it another go at Michigan.

2005

2005 would be another lacking year for Kenseth with only one win, from the pole at Bristol, and a seventh-place finish in the final standings. He would also record his final two poles of his career (so far). He would make the Chase again, and also would do better in it, after learning the nuances of the new format the previous year, but he did not come close to winning a second championship.

Smirnoff Ice would leave the #17 team for the #97 team since alcohol and power tools didn't exactly mix and USG would replace Smirnoff Ice for a few select races. Carhartt continued to be a major secondary sponsor for Kenseth and upped its primary sponsorship to three races. Trex Decking and Railing would also sponsor Kenseth for a race.

2006

Matt Kenseth would explode, as far as he's concerned, with wins in 2006, garnering four of them to come up one win short of matching his career high. He won at California, Dover, and had back-to-back victories at Michigan and Bristol. He also went back to his highly consistent ways, as evidenced by 21 top ten finishes, only 1 DNF, and an incredible 9.6 average finish. However, he fell short in the Chase, finishing second to Jimmie Johnson for the championship.

While although the paint scheme remained unchanged from 2005, Ford retired the Taurus from NASCAR competition and introduced the new Ford Fusion. USG and Carhartt continued their relationship with Kenseth with R+L Carriers joining them as another major secondary sponsor for Kenseth.

2007

Kenseth had another respectable year in 2007, winning two races, at California and Homestead, and finishing fourth in the final points standings. His run for a second championship was interrupted during the Chase by a stretch of four races where he finished 26th or worse. But he came out of his slump to record top fives in the remaining five races of the season, including a win at the season ender at Homestead. One interesting note during this streak was he never finished in the same position twice. His run in the Chase was far surpassed by the amazing performances of Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, and a surprising Clint Bowyer.

USG, Carhartt, and R+L Carriers continued being major contributors to Kenseth's paint schemes while Arby's, Kenseth's Busch Series sponsor, would be on the car for one race at Bristol.

2008-2009

2008 would become a rather dismal year for Matt Kenseth. Despite being only one of two drivers to make ever Chase since its inception in 2004 (the other being Jimmie Johnson), he finished outside the top ten (since the Chase field expanded from 10 drivers to 12) for the first time since 2001 and also failed to win a race for the first time since 2001. Part of this may be attributed to the absence of long-time crew chief Robbie Reiser, who was promoted and replace by crew chief Chip Bolin. While he did manage to record 20 top tens during the season, he had to fight his way into the Chase after starting the year off in poor form. The lack of bonus points from having no wins and five finishes of 15th or worse during the Chase, including three DNFs, relegated Kenseth to an 11th-place points finish... barely missing the top ten by three points to Kyle Busch.

But 2009 would start with a bang. At the Daytona 500, Kenseth would pass Elliott Sadler just before a red flag came out for rain. Kenseth would lead only one lap to win the rain-shortened Daytona 500 and give Roush his first ever Daytona 500 victory. The following race in California he held off the dominant car of Jeff Gordon to win his second race in a row and become only the fifth driver in NASCAR history to win the first two races of the season. He now heads to Las Vegas, a track he is exceptionally good at with 2 wins, 4 top 5s, 5 top 10s, and an average finish of 9.0 in nine starts at the track, and hopes to make history by winning the first three races of a season. Obviously the excuse of a new crew chief in 2008 proved to be false as Kenseth had yet another crew chief for 2009, young Drew Blickensderfer who is proving to be one of the top crew chiefs on the circuit only two races into the season.

This would be the first time Kenseth would race in the same paint scheme with the same make of Ford (the previous time he had the same paint scheme consecutively, he switched from a Taurus to a Focus). USG, Carhartt, and R+L Carriers remained as sponsor for Kenseth for 2008 and will continue into 2009. Dish Network, a Roush Fenway sponsor, was on the car for one race in 2008 at Bristol.

Notable Special Schemes

2001 9/11
This scheme was run at Dover, the race after the attacks of September 11, 2001. New Hampshire was originally supposed to be run as the first race after 9/11 but it was pushed back to the end of the season because of those stupid goat loving terrorists.


2002 AT&T
A paint scheme promoting AT&T's broadband service (this would be the old AT&T, not the new "at&t" of today). It ran at Sonoma and the July Daytona race.



2002 Flames
This was a special Charlotte scheme run for The Winston and the Coca-Cola 600. The 600 scheme added Operation Overdrive to the area just above the Ford logo.

2003 Winston Cup Victory Lap
This paint scheme was actually never raced but it was created in celebration of Kenseth winning the final Winston Cup championship. All season long the past champions during the Winston Cup era had special paint schemes, including ones not actively racing.


2004 Smirnoff Ice
This was Smirnoff's way of getting around NASCAR's hard alcohol sponsorship ban that has since been lifted. It essentially paved the way for sponsors like Jim Beam, Jack Daniel's, and Crown Royal to be able to get into the sport.


2004 Carhartt






2005 USG






2006 R+L Carriers






2007 DeWalt Nano






2009 Carhartt