1. Kyle Busch’s first COT win
While Kyle Busch s first NASCAR Cup Series win might not be all that memorable ( it happened at Fontana in 2005 by the way), his first win in the Car of Tomorrow was hard to forget. In fact, Busch banged fenders with Jeff Burton to beat him to the line and ended up winning the race by an extremely thin margin. It’s what he did next however that made the moment memorable.
Moments after beating Jeff Burton for his first win of the season, Busch was asked what he thought about the new COT cars, which were debuted during this race. Everyone expected Busch to sing the cars’ praises after winning the race and dethroning one of NASCAR s veterans in the process, but he stood there and told reporters that he hated it.
2. Wrecking Dale Earnhardt Jr at Richmond
There’s always that moment in a drivers Cup Series career where fans either cheer you on to victory or celebrate your defeat, and Kyle Busch wrecking Dale Earnhardt Jr at Richmond was that moment. Of course, maybe that has to do with Dale Jr being NASCAR s most popular driver, or just a general dislike of Busch s attitude, but this is the moment that he became a polarizing figure.
Think about it! Kyle Busch had to be escorted out of Richmond Raceway after the race due to how angry fans were at him. I mean, this was NASCAR s most popular driver and he was only seconds away from winning his first race in years. If nothing else, Busch may not have done it intentionally, but he unleashed a powder keg of hatred that would follow him for years to come.
3. Wrecking Ron Hornaday at Texas Motor Speedway
There are a few things that are just unforgivable in NASCAR and outright wrecking someone who is competing for a championship happens to be one of those things. Unfortunately for Kyle Busch, that s exactly what he did during the 2011 Camping World Truck Series race at Texas and it again drew the ire of NASCAR fans. Everywhere.
The matter was only made worse by the fact that Hornaday accidentally made contact with Busch and drove him up into the wall, which is when the incident occurred. Once NASCAR threw the caution flag out, Busch ran down Hornaday, stuck on his bumper in the turn and outright punted him into the wall.
Busch was promptly parked for two races by NASCAR and served a hefty fine as well. As expected, the incident eliminated Hornaday from championship contention and left him with a lot of sour feelings. Busch would return to the Cup Series a few weeks later and go on to finish in the top-ten in points despite not running the entire season.
4. Getting injured at Daytona International Speedway
Kyle Busch has been portrayed as somewhat of a villain so far on this list, which is why what happened to him in 2015 will be an absolute shock. People that are reading this will be forced to at least reconsider their feelings about Kyle Busch and his talent when it comes to driving a racecar.
Unfortunately for Kyle Busch, 2015 was the year that he would go flying into the grass during an Xfinity Series race and hit the inside of the wall of Daytona International Speedway dead on. What made the situation direr, however, was the fact that the inside walls weren t reinforced with Safer barriers, which is a barrier used to absorb impact, leaving Busch badly injured.
In fact, while Busch was able to get out of his car under his own power, he quickly collapsed to the ground, which made it apparent he was in bad shape. When all was said and done, Busch suffered a fracture in one leg, a fracture in the other foot and a sprained left finger. It seemed like Busch s career was over, but it didn t end up happening that way.
5. Winning a championship after suffering an injury
As impossible as it is to think that Kyle Busch ever came back from the injuries, he suffered at Daytona International Speedway, he went a lot further than that.
While Busch s first few races were a poor showing for Busch, he started to turn in great finish after great finish. Eventually, he nabbed his first win of the season at Sonoma Raceway, which qualified him for that year’s playoffs. He would then go on to win three races before the playoffs began, advance through every round of the postseason, and win his first Cup Series championship.
Not only was this the moment that NASCAR fans were forced to acknowledge Busch as one of the best that NASCAR had to offer, but also to see him in a much more positive light. This was the moment that Busch redeemed himself in eyes of fans.
