Kurt Busch 

Kurt Busch drives the No. 51 Rydex/Thank a Teacher Today Chevrolet Impala for Phoenix Racing in the Sprint Cup Series. Busch, winner of 24 Cup races and the 2004 championship, also races on an “opportunity permitting” basis in the Pro Stock division of NHRA. Busch won the Cup Series Championship in 2004, the first ever season using the “Chase for the Cup” points format, finishing just eight points ahead of Jimmie Johnson. With a 2006 win in the Nationwide Series, Busch became one of only 23 drivers with a win in all three of NASCAR’s top divisions: the Sprint Cup Series, the Nationwide Series, and the Camping World Truck Series.

Busch ran for rookie of the year honors in 2001, starting 35 of 36 races with no wins, although he scored three top fives and six top tens that year. Busch finished with a 27th place finish in the championship standings, was the runner-up for the Rookie of the Year award, earned more than $2 million in winnings.

2002 was Busch’s breakout year in the Winston Cup Series. He won his first race at the Food City 500 in Bristol in the spring. Busch added a second win at Martinsville in October, then won at Atlanta the next week and Homestead in the season finale. Busch scored four wins, 12 top fives and 20 top tens, with one pole, and finishing third in the final standings in 2002. He finished the season particularly strong, winning three out of the final five races and finishing third and sixth and leading many laps in the other two.

In 2004, Busch won three races, two poles and the inaugural NASCAR Nextel Cup Championship. He won his fourth consecutive race at Bristol after winning the Food City 500 in March (winning that race for the third consecutive year), and became the second driver to sweep both races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in a single season. He scored ten top five and 21 top ten finishes that season. Busch won three races during the 2005 season, along with nine top five and 18 top ten finishes in 34 races. He finished 10th in the final standings.

In the 2006 season Busch scored one win at Bristol Motor Speedway in the Food City 500, his fifth win at the track. Busch celebrated the victory by getting out of his car and making a snow angel on the track, due to snow that had fallen at the track that weekend. He also won six poles and had seven top fives and twelve top ten finishes but finished 16th in the final standings. He also made his Busch Series debut at Texas Motor Speedway, winning in his first race. He ran six more races that season and picked up a second win at Watkins Glen International. In the 2007 season, Busch had two wins, one pole, scored five top-fives, and ten-top tens through 26 races and qualified for the Chase for the Sprint Cup. He also ran four more Busch races, earning 2 top five and 3 top ten finishes.

He began his 2009 season at the 2009 Daytona 500, he was involved in a wreck on lap 124. Busch made numerous pit stops to repair the car, and was able to finish tenth. Busch then qualified fourth for the season’s second race at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. He ran in the top five most of the race and finished fifth. This moved him up seven spots in the standings to third. He remained in the top five in points for the rest of the season. He qualified for the chase, and ended up 4th in the standings.

For the 2010 season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Kurt Busch won the 26th Annual NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race. He then followed it up by winning the Coca-Cola 600 the following weekend, becoming only the seventh driver to win both in the same year. Kurt eventually made the Chase being seeded 5th in points. Busch also, amazingly, finished seventh at Daytona after wrecking three times in the last twelve laps. Busch would finish out the season 11th among the Chase contenders.

In 2011, Busch earned his first Budweiser Shootout win and would go on to win the 2011 Gatorade Duel. Weeks later on June 26, Kurt finally got an elusive road course victory at Infineon Raceway. Not only did he win, but he also the most laps with 76. On October 2nd Kurt Busch won on 2 late restarts beating Jimmie Johnson in turn 1 leading the final 43 laps to grab his first ever victory at the Monster Mile at Dover.

Busch began training in January 2011 under veteran NHRA Pro Stock driver Allen Johnson and obtained his NHRA Pro Stock competition license. He made his drag-racing competition debut on March 10 at the 42nd annual Tire Kingdom Gatornationals in Gainesville, FL. On March 12, Busch qualified in the Pro Stock field, and made his first professional drag-racing Elimination-round start on March 13, losing to Erica Enders by 0.004 of a second. Busch is only the third driver to cross over between NASCAR and NHRA.