May 24, 2008
NASCAR Nationwide Series CARQUEST Auto Parts 300
May 24, 2008
NASCAR Nationwide Series CARQUEST Auto Parts 300
May 24, 2008
NASCAR Nationwide Series CARQUEST Auto Parts 300
May 24, 2008
NASCAR Nationwide Series CARQUEST Auto Parts 300
May 10, 2008
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Dodge Challenger 500
May 10, 2008
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Dodge Challenger 500
May 10, 2008
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Dodge Challenger 500
May 10, 2008
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Dodge Challenger 500
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September 1, 2007
Kyle Thomas Busch (born May 2, 1985 in Las Vegas,
Nevada) is an American race car driver. Currently,
he drives the #18 M&M's Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs
Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series. He grew up
racing at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
He is often nicknamed Shrub, since he is the younger
brother of NASCAR driver Kurt Busch and a small bush
is called a shrub. He also has been referred to as
Rowdy after Rowdy Burns in the movie Days of
Thunder, Little Busch after the TV series Lil' Bush.
At 16, Busch competed in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck
Series for Roush Racing as a replacement after the
team's two drivers were released midway in the 2001
season, and earned two top-10 finishes in six starts
what was scheduled to be a full-season campaign for
2002. (In 2000, NASCAR rules changed to permit a
driver to make up to seven starts -- up from five --
in a season before becoming a full-time driver for
rookie status.)
Busch was the fastest in practice for a 2001
Craftsman Truck Series race at California Speedway
in Fontana, CA, when he was ejected from the track
by CART officials because the American Racing Wheels
200 was part of a CART weekend featuring the
Marlboro 500 CART FedEx Championship Series event.
Marlboro threw Busch out of the garage because of an
interpretation of the Master Settlement Agreement of
1998, prohibiting persons under 18 years of age in
participating in events sponsored by tobacco
companies. (The MSA also resulted in the benching in
2006 of then 17-year old Grand-Am Krohn Racing
driver Colin Braun for three sportscar races held in
conjunction with the Indy Racing League because
Marlboro sponsored both of Penske Racing's Indy Cars
at the time.)
Six weeks after the incident, NASCAR imposed a
minimum age of 18 years starting in 2002 to prevent
future incidents from happening again, because
Winston was the premier series sponsor. (For 2007,
the rule has changed; Grand National (Busch East and
AutoZone West) and Whelen Modified (North and South)
Tours will now permit drivers as young as 16 to
enter the races.)
When the age requirements were put in place, Busch
switched from NASCAR to the American Speed
Association (ASA) series, a Midwest based company
that also aided in his success; in the 2002 season,
Busch finished eighth in the championship points for
the ASA series.
