Kurt Thomas Busch born August 4th, 1978 in Las Vegas, Nevada is a famous American NASCAR driver. Kurt drives #2 Miller Lite Dodge in Nextel Cup Series. He also drives in Busch Series driving the #12 Penske Truck Rental Dodge. Kurt has the distinction of having competed against famous drivers like Greg Biffle, Matt Crafton, Ron Hornaday, Chris Trickle, and Kevin Harvick.
Busch got his big break on a tragic incident. When Chris Trickle was shot in a mysterious shooting (Trickle died a year later from injuries), the Star Nursery team started looking for a new driver to replace Trickle in the #70 team and eventually romped in Kurt Busch. This way Busch got the chance to ride and he eventually won the 1999 AutoZone Elite Division Southwest Series championship. He has also finished as runner-up in the closest finish in the sports history at Darlington Raceway on March 16, 2003.
In 2004, Busch won the NASCAR Nextel Cup series championship in the first ever season using the "Chase of the Cup" points format. He finished 8 points ahead of "Jimmie" Johnson. Busch has also become one of the 16 drivers to win all three of NASCAR's top divisions Nextel Cup, Busch, and Craftsman Truck Series.
Busch experienced a lot of ups and downs in the year 2003. During this year he was also involved in a feud with fellow driver Jimmy Spencer. Both drivers clashed at a race in a car-to-car bumping at Michigan International Speedway. Later Spencer reached into Busch's car, grabbed him, and punched him on the nose. Kurt first claimed that his car came to a stop in front of Spencer's garage, later the audio proved that he stopped the car deliberately and threatened Spencer from his car.
This resulted in both the drivers being fined and placed on probation for the rest of the year. The feud marred Busch's image with the fans significantly. He seriously tried to rebuild up his image by interacting with fans through several public appearances and also through charitable donations. Yet his image among the fans did not improve much. He polled #3 on the list of most hated athletes, according to the February 2006 edition of GQ magazine.
Busch got engaged to his girlfriend, Eva Bryan, while attending the 2005 Marlboro Magyar Nagydij. He married her on July 27th, 2006 in Virginia. The wedding footage was taped and aired on national television. The couple currently resides in North Carolina, and travels to racetracks each week together. Kurt's younger brother, Kyle Busch also competes full-time in both the Nextel Cup Series and Busch series.
Many fans consider Kurt Busch as one of the top three most talented drivers in NASCAR.
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