| | | | | | | 2 - Kurt Busch | Las Vegas, Nevada |
| | Primary Sponsor: Miller Lite
Manufacturer: Dodge
Car Owner: Roger Penske
Team: Penske Racing Las Vegas native Kurt Busch began making a name for himself in his hometown in the Dwarf Car Series. In just six years, Busch went from Dwarf Car rookie of the year to one of NASCAR’s top drivers.
In 1995 and 1996, he won back-to-back championships in the Dwarf and Hobby Stock Leagues. In 1998, he won rookie of the year honors in the Southwest Touring Series and won the league’s championship the next year.
In 2000, Jack Roush hired Busch to run a full schedule in the Craftsman Truck Series, as well as a handful of Cup races. He earned truck rookie of the year honors the same year, and he had four wins – second only to Greg Biffle’s five.
In the Cup series that year, Busch finished in the top 20 in three of seven races, placing 13th in the 500-miler at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
That was all the proof that Roush needed to begin running Busch in NASCAR’s top series full time in 2001, where he ran 35 of 36 races with three top-fives and six top-10s.
In March 2002, he earned his first Cup victory at Bristol, winning three more races that season. Busch was third in the final point standings, finishing in the top 10 in 20 of the 36 races.
Just two years later, in 2004, Busch won NASCAR’s inaugural Chase for the NEXTEL Cup. The next year he made the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup, which would be his last year with Roush Racing. During the 2005 season he signed with Penske Racing South to drive the No. 2 Dodge for the 2006 season. | | | | | | |
