The Las Vegas Strip is often referred to as the Jewel of the Desert because of its reputation as the entertainment vacation capital of the country. More than 35 million visitors from around the world are drawn to the lights of the strip each year to experience its unique blend of entertainment, scenery and lavish resorts. “Sin City,” as it is also well known, provides a place to live on the wild side, and truly is a haven for overstimulation.
While many head there seeking fortune, Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 41 Monster Energy/Haas Automation Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), actually left his hometown of Las Vegas to find his fortune as a championship-winning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver. However, it was the skills he developed and the reputation he earned right there in Las Vegas that would mark his first real steps toward reaching racing stardom.
Approximately 20 miles from the bright lights of The Strip sits the Bullring, a three-eighths-mile oval located outside the second turn of Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It was there that Busch began his racing career, racing in Legends cars, proving week in and week out to be the driver to beat. His consistent performances at the Bullring are what began to get him noticed.
In 1999, Busch was chosen to succeed Chris Trickle, a local legend who was killed in a drive-by shooting the year before, as the driver of the No. 70 Star Nursery Chevrolet. It would be Busch’s first full-time season in the NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Tour. He promptly won six races and the series championship that year but, more importantly, he captured the attention of successful NASCAR team owner Jack Roush, who decided to host driver auditions for a team he fielded in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The auditions were informally known as “The Gong Show” and Roush invited Busch to participate. In a pivotal moment in Busch’s life, he won the audition and started competing for Roush in 2000 – a campaign that played out in a whirlwind.
Busch started the 2000 season by scoring a second-place finish in the season-opening Truck Series race at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. He scored his first Truck Series win July 1 at The Milwaukee Mile, and then added three more victories before the year was out, including two from the pole. In what was his rookie season, Busch finished second in the championship.
Although it was only one season, Roush saw all he needed to know that Busch was a star. Less than a year after hiring him to race in the Truck Series, Roush announced that Busch would drive his No. 97 car in the Sprint Cup Series. Barely a year removed from running Late Models, Busch was racing the No. 97 car in NASCAR’s elite division.
While he has amassed a resume that includes 20 poles, 27 wins, 117 top-five finishes and 224 top-10s in 542 Sprint Cup starts; three poles, five wins, 17 top-fives and 23 top 10s in 30 NASCAR Xfinity Series starts; and four poles, four wins, 14 top-fives and 20 top-10s in 28 Truck Series races, he’ll always remember those big-city lights and nights in Las Vegas and the experiences gained there that made it all a reality.
KURT BUSCH, Driver of the No. 41 Monster Energy/Haas Automation Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing:
Talk about heading to Las Vegas now that we’ve got one race with the new downforce package in the books.
“Directionally, I think it’s great with the lower downforce and softer tires. Goodyear has their work cut out for them. Could we make it simpler for them and make the cars weigh less? These stock cars are really heavy and they chew up tires. I wish they could weigh less and that way we would have less crashing when we hit the wall due to an odd circumstance. But, overall, I’m happy with the way things turned out. We just need to find a little bit more speed on the No. 41 that is consistent from the beginning of the race to the end.”
You participated in the tire test at Las Vegas earlier this year. What makes Las Vegas such a good place to test?
“Most importantly, it’s the weather. Secondly, it’s a track that we only race at once a year so the notes don’t get as defined there, whereas we race Kansas twice, Charlotte three times. We have so many notes for those racetracks, so it’s always nice to go to a racetrack that we have minimal data on.”
Talk about your excitement now that we’re underway with the 2016 season. Does the fact that your brother won the championship last season add any pressure?
“It’s neat to have that as motivation, but also to really symbolize the effort that our parents gave us and helped us throughout our careers, and it all started here at the Bullring just outside of Las Vegas Motor Speedway. We raced on that little three-eighths-of-a-mile oval. There are so many memories. So many moments, wins, wrecks, lessons. It was really neat to see him win it all last year. It ties us together as a brother group that won championships with the Labontes, and I’m very proud of him. I’m very happy for him.”
Las Vegas Motor Speedway Notes of Interest:
Back Where it Started – Kurt Busch, a native of Las Vegas, grew up approximately 20 miles from Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He graduated near the top of his class from Durango High School in 1996. He began his career racing go-karts in Las Vegas when he was 7, transitioned to Hobby Stocks in 1996 and, by year’s end, captured the track championship at Las Vegas Speedway Park. He racked up numerous wins and championships and eventually caught the eye of successful NASCAR team owner Jack Roush, who decided to host driver auditions for a team he fielded in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Busch was invited to participate and, in a pivotal moment in his life, he won the audition and started competing for Roush in 2000. Less than a year after hiring him to race in the Truck Series, Roush announced that Busch would be promoted to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Barely a year removed from running Late Models on the Featherlite Southwest Tour, Busch was racing the No. 97 car in NASCAR’s elite division. Since then, he has claimed 20 poles, 27 wins, 117 top-five finishes and 224 top-10s in 542 Sprint Cup starts; three poles, five wins, 17 top-fives and 23 top 10s in 30 NASCAR Xfinity Series starts; and four poles, four wins, 14 top-fives and 20 top-10s in 28 Truck Series races.
In 1998, Busch accepted a job working the graveyard shift for the Las Vegas Valley Water District, where he fixed water main breaks, and serviced fire hydrants and service lines. Busch took a 12-month leave of absence in 2000 to pursue his NASCAR dreams driving in the Truck Series for Roush Racing. He called his former employer 11 months later to inform him he had accepted a Sprint Cup Series contract at Roush and would not be returning to the Las Vegas Valley Water District.
Sunday’s Kobalt 400 will mark Busch’s 15th career Sprint Cup start at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Busch has one top-five finish and three top-10s at the 1.5-mile oval. Additionally, the 37-year-old driver has led 54 laps, has an average starting position of 9.5, an average finishing position of 22.1, and has completed 96.5 percent (3,628 of 3,759) of the laps he’s contested there.
Busch has led laps in six of his 14 career Sprint Cup starts at Las Vegas for a combined total of 54 laps led. He led 40 laps in March 2005 en route to a third-place finish – his best finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Busch has one pole to his credit (2010) at Las Vegas. Busch has 20 career Sprint Cup poles.
Testing, Testing – Busch and the No. 41 team spent January 12-13 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway participating in a Goodyear tire test in preparation for this weekend’s Kobalt 400.
Busch has made one NASCAR Xfinity Series start at Las Vegas. He started and finished fourth in 2010.
Get to the Points – With his fourth-place finish Sunday in the Folds of Honor 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Busch enters Las Vegas seventh in the Sprint Cup driver standings.
Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) at Las Vegas – In 19 overall starts at Las Vegas, SHR-prepared Chevrolets have earned two wins (Tony Stewart, 2012 and Kevin Harvick, 2015), five top-five finishes and six top-10s, have been atop the leaderboard for 462 laps, and have completed 98.2 percent of the laps contested (5,019 of 5,109).
SHR in 2016 – Two races into the 2016 season, SHR’s four Sprint Cup entries have recorded one pole, two top-five finishes and four top-10s. SHR Chevrolets have completed 2,100 of 2,120 laps contested and have collectively led 193 laps.
