“That’s All I Could Do”: Kyle Busch on Donning Multiple Hats Before NASCAR Career

It’s quite refreshing to watch one’s favorite NASCAR drivers go back in time and talk about when they were rookies in the game. In an episode of Motorsports on NBC, NASCAR vet Steve Letarte interviewed Kyle Busch and his father. Kyle Busch revealed how there was a time when he wasn’t allowed in the pits and had to take up other related jobs.

Back in the day, one had to be at least 16 to be present in the pits. However, Kyle Busch started driving when he was just 13. Needless to say, NASCAR didn’t allow a teenage Busch to stay in the pits where his elder brother Kurt Busch was preparing for practice and qualifying.

“So I’d go with grandma and I’d be sitting in the grandstands because that’s all I could do while they are in the pits getting ready for practice and practicing and all that,” said Busch.

Busch’s career is quite diverse. One would be surprised to know that Kyle Busch, a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, was once a videographer. Busch admitted, “…as I got a little bit older, then I was the videographer; I could do all the videoing.”

Finally, when Busch reached the permissible age to drive a stock car, the role of the videographer was assumed by his dad and his mom. “Grandma even tried to video sometimes when finally I got in the car,” he added.

Until that point in the interview, the fans knew Kyle Busch as a seasoned next-gen car driver and a skilled videographer. But moments later, his dad (Tom Busch) dropped another astonishing fact about the early days of Kyle Busch’s career in NASCAR.

Kyle Busch used to be a spotter for his elder brother’s races

Winning a NASCAR race alone is almost impossible. It’s the spotter who navigates the driver through the slugfest that every NASCAR race potentially is and aids the driver in coming out clean in the chase for the win.

Wouldn’t it be even a bit surprising to visualize Kyle Busch as a spotter? But it did happen for an entire season when Kurt Busch was driving a modified NASCAR machine.

Tom Busch leaked that Kyle Busch was the spotter and the video guy for Kurt Busch for that season in Las Vegas. But that wasn’t all. Kyle Busch was also the commentator for those races. Now that is impressive.