Kurt Busch

Kurt Busch
Kurt Thomas Buschis an American professional stock car racing driver. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, driving the No. 41 Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing. He is a second-generation racing driver; his father, Tom, won several NASCAR-sanctioned events. He is the older brother of 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Kyle Busch...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionRace Car Driver
Date of Birth4 August 1978
CityLas Vegas, NV
CountryUnited States of America
Seeing Tony do it last year at Indy, I was envious. I said, 'I want to do that at Vegas.' It's a big race for me and my little brother, of course. I watched the track get built from the ground up.
It feels good to get off to a great start. But we're just two races in. I'd like to say that we're a championship contender with the way we ended last year and we'll just try to keep our momentum rolling forward.
I believe they're more behind me now than we were this time last year, knowing that this is a unique opportunity -- A, to defend our championship and, B, to get the most out of 2005,
Last year Tony had trouble as well as Mayfield, and they never seemed to rebound. It's like a golf tournament. If you start off and you're 4- or 5-under and the other guys are waffling around par, they're not going to catch you. ... When you have a bad race early on it's just that much more difficult to overcome later on.
Last year we saw (Tony) Stewart have trouble as well as (Jeremy) Mayfield and they never seemed to rebound after that, ... It's just the pace. In a lot of ways it's like a golf tournament. If you start off and you're four- or five-under and the other guys are waffling around with a bogey and a par, they're not gonna catch you. It's up to the leader to make those mistakes and we did have a big mistake at Atlanta with the motor blowing up. That took away our solid advantage, so when you have a bad race early on it's just that much more difficult to overcome later on.
With a little bit of racing luck and a little bit of staying on top of our game and not let the big picture get away, we could do the same thing we did last year.
That's something I tried to do last year and again modeled that pattern this year -- just to run each of the regular-season races as if they were important, and they are definitely. But the final 10 and the intensity and pressure and anxiety to get to the racetrack and to have a solid finish . . . the final 10 is definitely so intense that you can wear yourself out before you even get there.
We don't know what 2006 has in store. Right now, it's time for this team to shine and hopefully back up our championship that we won last year.
Last year in the spring it was an alternator belt that broke when we were leading that took us out of contention, and then in the fall last year we were leading at the end before fuel strategy cost us the win. But Richmond is a terrific racetrack.
We just missed the handle on it again. It was just way too loose off the corners.
We had (the car) in position late in the race and I thought we had a shot. You could just see it brewing. With 20 to go, it was going to get busy.
Race tracks have somewhat gone away from building charisma and building an identity. They all seem to look the same. Fans are going to get a new perspective when they come to Las Vegas Motor Speedway that's so much different from all the other tracks. That's what it's all about, putting a new face on it for the fans.
Believe it or not, when practice begins on Thursday morning at Texas Motor Speedway, that will be the first time I've ever even sat in a Grand National car.
Roy and I have talked a lot about it already. He says he can't wait for a chance to make those strategic calls and I have a world of faith and trust in him. Roy and Matt have always worked great together and they both stay so cool under pressure.