Kyle Busch will go down as one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history with his 63 (and counting) wins in the Cup Series, and a pair of championships. Before Rowdy ever became a thing, his older brother Kurt was making his way, and making waves in NASCAR circles. The younger Busch has mentioned on multiple occasions how he was negatively received from the jump due to his older brother’s less-than-stellar reputation.
This week on the Kenny Wallace Conversation on YouTube, the Richard Childress Racing driver sat down with the former driver and Fox announcer and talked about various things, including Busch’s early beginnings. The show host was caught off guard when the 38-year-old provided a detailed history of his path into racing, and specifically how his older brother landed a ride out of tragedy.
“I actually knew Dick Trickle a little bit beforehand, obviously just following NASCAR and seeing him race in the Busch Series and the Cup Series and everything else,” Busch said. “His brother, Chuck, lived in Las Vegas and his nephew, Chris Trickle, was racing out in the Southwest Tour and racing late models and stuff like that on the West Coast scene and was probably one of the next West Coast guys to make it big to go into NASCAR.
“But unfortunately he was shot in a drive-by shooting and never raced again. But that moment was actually the turning point for the Busch family and our stature in Vegas for Kurt to get into that Southwest Tour car that Chris was driving to take it over to run that 70 Star Nursery car and run it to multiple wins and a championship. And then that was the moment where Kurt got the call from Roush to go run in the Truck Series. So like there’s a whole connection there with respect and everything that we’ve had through that family and what they’ve meant to us and us being able to get to the big leagues.”
Kyle Busch Produced One of Greatest Careers Following in Brother’s Footsteps
After Kurt Busch got the call, Kyle received a call of his own and debuted in 2001 with Roush in the Truck Series at IRP. The 16-year-0ld was impressive and finished ninth.
Since that first race, Busch has run in more than 1,000 combined races between all three series, and has recorded a staggering 230 wins, including the all-time series leader for both the Xfinity (102) and Trucks (65), respectively. In addition to his pair of Cup titles, he also earned the 2009 Xfinity championship, and has won the sport’s biggest races — Coca-Cola 600, Brickyard 400 (twice), Southern 500 — the Daytona 500, the lone exception.
While Busch embraced the black hat role that he unwillingly had bestowed on him from those early days, since his switch to RCR, he’s been much better received. He no longer hears boos but cheers at driver introductions.
Cheers he has earned in a career that will be forever remembered one day in the future at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Incredibly, a career born out of tragedy.