Kurt Busch was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame on January 23.
For Busch, who was the 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champion, as well as the 2017 Daytona 500 champion, the honor meant everything. A Cup driver with 776 starts to his name, Busch won 34 races and placed in the top 10 339 times along the way in stringing together a career that was punctuated by extreme highs and lows.
Straight out of Las Vegas, Busch, along with younger brother Kyle, both wore their hearts on their sleeves and were throwbacks to the rough and tumble characters who helped build NASCAR into what it is in 2026.
Still riding high from his Hall of Fame induction, Busch, who will soon be on his way to the Daytona 500, talked about the honor and his cemented place in NASCAR history.
“I’m still basking in the sun and the highs of the Hall of Fame,” smiled Busch. “To be inducted into NASCAR’s Hall of Fame and to achieve that highest honor, it’s just amazing. This blue-collar kid from Las Vegas made it in. I just worked hard. I had this dream to try and make it and, man, it all turned out! To be able to drive competitively and share the track with all those legends for 20 years was amazing. I’m still riding high of going into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
“Everybody has their own story and everybody has to blaze their own trail,” continued Busch. “For me coming out of Las Vegas the key ingredient was the work ethic that my parents instilled in me. My dad taught me that I had to work on my own racing stuff first before I could drive. That enabled me to bounce around and to go to different race shops in Vegas.
“Whether it was a late model or hobby stock or modified or even a Legend car, I was just working on people’s stuff and then I’d help them shake it down at the race tracks. That’s really how it all started,” Busch continued. “To be on the track with the pioneers that helped start NASCAR, and then to be there with the boom of the 1990s and watching the sport go through the roof TV-wise and with corporate sponsors and everything like that was just awesome.
“A guy named Jeff Gordon opened up the door for a lot of young guys and us West Coasters to be looked at and to get a shot at it. I hit the timing really well. I think another key ingredient was Las Vegas Motor Speedway. When the built that track it out a lot of eyeballs on the city of Las Vegas and the racing scene there.”
Busch has displayed an unabashed love NASCAR racing.
“My dad was a big-time fan of the sport and he’s an intelligent person around cars,” explained Busch. “When we made it to the big time, one of his best friends that he made away was Leonard Wood and the Wood Brothers. Those are those old-school boys who will outwork you and outrace you, as well. So it’s been fun to see it all come full circle. My brother Kyle, I’m s proud of him. he basically doubled all of my stats. He’s got so many wins in Trucks and Xfinity and Cup.
“I mean who would have thought that we would be able to do all of this over the last 20 years. It was fantastic for Kyle to be my ring presenter and to enshrine me into the NASCAR Hall of Fame,” Busch said. “I couldn’t have picked a better person. I’m so happy to have shared the racetrack with him. Early on, it was definitely a sibling rivalry between us. We were at each other like oil and water. However, later in or careers, we really helped each other out on the track to benefit each other.”
Next stop for Kurt Busch: Daytona International Speedway.
“I just got an invite from the NASCAR brass to come to the Daytona 500,” said Busch. “So I’ll be participating in pre-race activities. I’m going to the track once a quarter. And just enough to still be around. I’ll give a high-five to Bubba Wallace or Tyler Reddick or Riley Herbst. I’ll be at Phoenix for the IndyCar and NASCAR doubleheader in March. I’ll also be doing different motorsports appearances. Just having some fun. I’ll also be helping with 23XI Racing.”
And Busch has been keeping himself busy with the International Race of Champions, as well as a host of motor racing activities.
“The IROC group and what Ray Evernham has done to get everybody back together is excellent,” Busch explained. “There is going to be two historical races this year. One is going to be at Charlotte at the Ten Tenths Motor Club and then back to Laguna Seca in the summer with everyone out there. I mean Jeff Gordon, Bobby Labonte, Mark Martin, Ken Shrader, and one of my favorites, Scott Pruett. It’s really cool to run elbows with the gang in IROC. When I was able to win an IROC championship back in the day, it puts you in a cool fraternity.”
He also has his eye on the next generation of Busch racers.
“I’ve also been watching my little nephew, Brexton Busch,” added Busch. “I mean he on the gas and he’s going to be in his first Late Model race later on this summer. I mean the kid is not even 11 years old yet and he’s jumping in a big time car. He’s been amazing to watch and I’m so very proud of him.
“One key thing Brexton is applying with his race craft is that he brings the car home without a scratch on it. That’s that racer sense that he’s got inside him he definitely has that swagger. The amount of laps he has as a 10 year old is more than I had as an 18 year old. He’s doing really well.”
Busch’s take on the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series field?
“I’d like to see 23XI Racing rebound a little bit,” pointed out Busch, who ended his career with the team. “Tyler Reddick didn’t win last year, but he had some good consistency. Bubba wining Indianapolis, that was huge. But we all want more, right? And Riley Herbst is now past his rookie year. So we want to see him cracking into those top 10 finishes here and there and improving at all the different tracks.”
