Kurt Busch

Kurt Busch was just 14 when he stared his racing career in the Dwarf Car series near Las Vegas. In just two years, he moved into the state championships and won the Rookie of the Year title for the Nevada State Dwarf Car series.

He was part of the Legend Car series in 1996 and won the Western State championships in his first season, and was crowned Rookie of the Year, in the National version of the Legend Car series. He also wont he 1996 Hobby Stock Track Championships in Las Vegas. He was getting better and moving to the next level constantly and, from 1997 - 1999, he recorded 7 wins and got the 'Rookie of the Year' award along with the title of being the youngest driver ever to win the series.

NASCAR was drawing closer as Kurt went onto to win the NASCAR Southwest series as well as the NASCAR Touring series in 1999.

His prominence in the sport was rising and in 2000, he came second in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championships. He won four races in the series and moved into NASCAR. He would drive for the Roush Fenway racing team and finished at 48th place after competing in just 7 races in the season. He was impressive in 2001 as he came 27th overall. He had three top-5 finishes including a third place finish at Talladega. There were numerous occasions where Kurt showed his ability as a race driver but things didn't flow the way he would have wanted it.

In 2002, Kurt came to the fore with four wins in the season, on his way to a spectacular third place in the overall standings. He was languishing in mid-table before the last five weeks saw him grab 3 incredible wins.

2003 was full of ups and downs for Kurt. His four wins, nine top-5 finishes as well as 14 top-10 finishes meant that he would do really well but his record of not being able to complete 8 races in the season meant that he would be unable to break into the top-10 of the rankings and finish at 11th place. Kurt became the NASCAR Series champion in 2004 with three wins, 10 top-five finishes and an incredible 21 top-ten finishes. In 2005, he was unable to defend his title as he came 10th in the overall series. He won 3 races and recorded 9 top-five finishes along with 18 top-tens. He was suspended from racing by Jack Roush, for the last two races of the season, and had he been a part of those races, things might have ended differently.

A single victory meant that 16th place was the best he could do in 2006. His qualifying feats were better as he tied for a season high 6 pole positions. He was looking to regain some of his past glory in 2007 and his performances did just that. He won two races and had 6 top five finishes with 14 top-tens. He had a wonderful season and kept himself in the top spot by leading the most number of miles in the entire season.

Kurt is definitely on his way up and in 2008, he would be hoping that he can continue the climb and get back to the top, a place he has seen before.