Kurt Busch had several great highlights in his career. He won 34 Cup races, won the 2004 NASCAR Cup championship, and finished fourth in 2009. It’s no wonder he’ll be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame next January.
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The Las Vegas native had many great individual runs in his storied career, but few matched the drama and the outcome of Busch’s performance at Sonoma in 2012.
Having been released by Team Penske in December 2011, there were few opportunities left for Busch just two months before the 2012 season was slated to begin.
As a result, he had no choice but to take an offer from the severely underfunded James Finch team.
Sure, Busch ultimately finished 25th in the 2012 season, but for one moment, Finch’s Phoenix Racing almost pulled off one of the greatest upsets in NASCAR history – and it was with Busch behind the wheel.
Busch and the No. 51 Chevrolet were thorns in the side all race for eventual winner Clint Bowyer and runner-up Tony Stewart. In the final 10 laps, Busch almost caught Bowyer – but refused to wreck him – and ultimately settled for a third-place finish.
But HOW Busch did it is a story in and of itself: he spent the last 10 laps driving with a broken trackbar. In most instances, that would mean a driver would retire due to mechanical failure, but not Busch.
One of the greatest driving performances of Kurt Busch's Hall of Fame career was at Sonoma in 2012.
Carried the car to the front and was all over Clint Bowyer for the win when the trackbar broke. Finished third anyway with the rear end flopping around.@KurtBusch | @RaceSonoma pic.twitter.com/j54q7avTGo
— Steven Taranto (@STaranto92) July 10, 2025
He kept digging and somehow managed to challenge Bowyer for the lead in the closing stages before making a late mistake – running into a tire wall in Turn 11 – that caused him to fall back to third and allow Stewart to take second place.
Busch: If Only He Had Another Extra Lap
If it wasn’t for the broken trackbar and his late mistake, and if Busch had had one more lap, he very well may have been able to catch and pass Bowyer for the win.
“I was watching him, and it was honestly, I don’t know how he kept it on the racetrack with how much the rear end was moving around on that car,” Stewart said of Busch. “I thought he did a really phenomenal job of just hanging on to what he had.”
There was no shame for what Busch did. On the contrary, he was applauded by numerous peers. And Finch was in his glory. Having 251 starts in his career as a Cup team owner, Finch had just one win (with Brad Keselowski in 2009) and three other top-five finishes: third place in the 2002 Daytona 500 by Geoff Bodine, fourth in the 2007 Daytona 500 by Mike Wallace, and Busch’s third-place showing in 2012.
“When you show up and you’re on a third of the budget and you almost bring it to Victory Lane, you can’t say that one guy does it out here,” Busch said. “It takes a full team effort. But I really wanted to deliver for my guys today, and being that close, and to make one mistake, it’s a tough game. ”
Despite having retired from full-time racing heading into this weekend’s showing at Sonoma, the former 23XI Racing driver’s showing of sheer grit and determination remains as one of the best performances the hills of Sonoma have seen.
