Kyle and Kurt Busch have both blazed trails in NASCAR, but not all of it is pretty. In fact, the Las Vegas natives experienced several bad moments that had people questioning if their careers were over. While that never really happened, it’s fun to walk through all the crazy moments and remember the best of the Busch brothers.
1. Kyle Busch taking Ron Hornaday Jr out of the race after a caution
Kyle Busch is a fierce competitor, which makes watching him so interesting. This is also the case during a 2011 Truck Race at Texas, where Rowdy and Ron Hornaday were jockeying for position. Unfortunately, a little contact put them both in the wall and brought out the caution.
While Busch and Hornaday both had trucks that could be repaired, Busch took it upon himself to turn Hornaday into the wall under caution. The broadcast even played Busch’s in-car audio, which showed his crew chief begging him to back off. Busch was parked for the rest of the night and the following day for the Cup race.
2. Kurt Busch Ranting to his team about how bad his car is
Driving a race car at speeds over 100 MPH can be stressful, but Kurt Busch took it to a new level. The man has a treasure trove of sound clips throughout his career that are not family-friendly but amazing to hear. From him calling his own team a bunch of idiots after bad adjustments to asking NASCAR to stop penalizing him, there’s something for everyone.
The man is just unapologetic, and that’s one of the things that endears him to the NASCAR world the most. No matter if he’s being penalized, having a bad run, or making a bad adjustment, he has a comment about it.
3. Kyle Busch going after Joey Logano at Las Vegas
Kyle Busch is not a driver to mess with, and Joey Logano learned that the hard way at Las Vegas in 2017. Busch and Logano made contact on the final lap while racing for position, resulting in Rowdy getting spun. The incident didn’t seem intentional, but that didn’t stop Busch from exiting his car and going after Logano. When he finally got to Logano’s pit stall, he threw a punch at the Penske driver, and the two just started going at it.
The amazing part of this incident is that Bush was in Las Vegas, his home turf. While one would think the crowd would be sympathetic to their hometown boy, they cheered after seeing Logano draw blood. It was just a wild moment that NASCAR fans will always remember.
4. Kurt Busch: Getting the finger from the Intimidator during the 2001 Daytona 500
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9ll0n1Q0-o
There are moments in Kurt Busch’s career that he will remember forever, and the 2001 Daytona 500 could be one of them. Not only is that evident by it being his first race at Daytona, but also due to an early interaction.
It was none other than Dale Earnhardt who got so pissed off with Busch’s driving that he gave him the finger. Busch later admitted that it was a welcome to the sports moment for him and remembers it fondly. It is also a sorrowful memory, though, due to Earnhardt dying in a last-lap crash of the race.
5. Kyle Busch and Richard Childress go at it after an on-track incident.
Imagine duking it out with your future boss. That’s the situation Kyle Busch found himself in after a dust-up with Joey Colter in the Camping World Truck Series. Culter beat Busch for the victory that day in 2011, but Rowdy wasn’t particularly happy with how the final pass happened.
This led Busch to make contact with Culter during the cool-down lap to show his displeasure. That move riled up his future boss, Richard Childress. The longtime car owner and owner of Culter’s car got so mad that he went after Busch. The 60-plus-year-old man even had Rowdy in a headlock and was punching him.
It was just one of those bizarre moments in NASCAR history that becomes even crazier when you consider the two now working together. Busch has brought home three victories for RCR this season and kept his temper in check. How he can do this with the guy he fought 12 years ago is rather bizarre.
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6. Kurt Busch curses out and threatens journalists after a bad performance
Putting cameras and microphones in angry athletes’ faces is probably not a good idea. A perfect example came in 2012 during the Xfinity race at Dover. Busch was racing for position and managed to bring home the car in fourth. That didn’t mean he was happy about his performance, though.
Busch and Justin Allgaier made contact during the race, probing reporter Bob Pockrass to ask him about it. Unfortunately, his question about racing Allgaier cleanly while on probation really hit a sore spot. So much so that he claimed his probation was the only thing preventing him from kicking the reporter’s ass.
Busch then admitted that he probably shouldn’t have said that and argued that the reporter was trying to start trouble. Things only got worse after it was later announced that Busch was suspended for one week for his actions. His car owner at the time even threatened to fire him over the incident.
7. Kyle Busch dukes it out with Kevin Harvick at Darlington
Darlington Raceway is a historic track and is known for giving drivers trouble. In fact, between close-quarters racing and the surface-grinding tires into nothing, it’s a difficult track to navigate. It becomes even more difficult when you make someone angry.
Unfortunately for Kevin Harvick, that’s exactly what he did to Kyle Busch while they were racing for position in 2011. Busch seemed to make contact with Harvick during a restart, knocking Harvick back. Rowdy still wasn’t happy and decided to spin Harvick out while another caution was taking place.
Everything culminated on pit road, where Harvick parked right in front of Busch’s car. That blocked his exit and gave Harvick a chance to confront him. When Harvick reached Busch’s driver-side window, he threw a punch at Busch, who floored it. That forced Busch to plow Harvick’s car into the wall while fans watched in disbelief. Kevin Harvick just looked stunned afterward, too.
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