Kurt Busch was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame last month. The winner of the 2004 Cup Series championship, he is one of the greatest icons to have been a part of stock car racing and a well-worn hero. Kyle Petty, who attended the ceremonial banquet, spoke about him at the venue and explained the merits that led to him making the Hall of Fame.
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He said, “You know, when you look at Kurt. I said it, and I will say it here. He won with four or five different teams. But he took two teams that nobody paid attention to and made the garage stand up and take notice. That’s almost a bigger feat than winning with some of the teams he has.” Busch made his Cup Series debut in 2000 with Roush Racing.
From there, he moved to Penske Racing in 2006. He then transferred to Furniture Row Racing and later to Stewart-Haas Racing. He spent three seasons with Chip Ganassi Racing and then wound things up with 23XI Racing in 2022. Across this journey, he recorded 34 visits to victory lane. But the one that touched Petty the most was the final one in Kansas Speedway.
With 23XI Racing, Busch drove the No. 45 Toyota, adorning the same number that the late Adam Petty drove during his untimely death in 2000. He was Kyle’s son and passed away in an accident at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. After winning at Kansas, Busch made a gesture to the Petty family that they will remember and cherish forever.
Kyle said, “I always envisioned that No. 45 car going to victory lane with Adam. That obviously didn’t happen… I didn’t win a lot of races, but when @KurtBusch won that race in the 45, he called our family afterwards and gave us the trophy and flag from that race.” That’s a show of goodwill if there is any. It had a special emphasis considering Kyle himself never won with that number.
Busch’s career was nothing short of a roller-coaster ride. His untimely exit came after his infamous practice crash at Pocono in 2022, which deemed him medically unfit to race again, owing to the concussion-prone nature of the Next Gen car in its first year of competition.
Despite that, Busch enjoyed the highest of highs and survived extreme lows to reach this point. Along the way, he earned the respect and love of individuals like Kyle Petty. That, in many ways, is a far more significant prestige than a seat at the Hall of Fame itself.
