Kurt Busch set to drive in milestone 700th Cup Series race

Sometimes wheels must be reinventedto keep them turning, which mostly describes the transformation — and affirmation — of Kurt Busch as a NASCAR driver.

By now you may know the story: How just a few short years ago, the older of Las Vegas’ two NASCAR championship- winning brothers appeared on his way out as an upper echelon driver, mostly because he couldn’t get out of his own way.

If Ireland had The Troubles, Kurt Busch had The Squabbles — with other drivers, with NASCAR officials, with car owners, with the media, with past domestic partners, with Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s deputies in Phoenix, with his own brother Kyle. The two got together during the 2007 All-Star race at Charlotte on Memorial Day weekend and didn’t speak again until Thanksgiving dinner when their grandmother negotiated a peace settlement before pumpkin pie was served.

But what once were turbulent waters have since become a placid sea for the elder stock car statesman.

He has a new wife and lease on life, and the only news he makes these days is good news. Such as Sunday, when he will drive in his 700th Cup Series race during the first NASCAR-IndyCar doubleheader at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

No driver among NASCAR’s current crop has driven in more, and only 15 are ahead of him on the all-time list. Nine have been voted into the sport’s hall of fame, if you’re wondering what’s up the track for Busch.

But with another season behind the wheel of Chip Ganassi’s No. 1 Chevrolet yet to run on his contract, it’s 699 starts and counting. To Busch, this comes as a bigger surprise than when a journeyman driver named Jimmy Spencer drove him into the wall at the venerable Brickyard during the onset of The Squabbles.

Credit to dad

“It’s amazing,” Busch, 41, said during a virtual press conference. “To have this opportunity and to have been blessed to have raced with so many great race teams over the years; just making it past the local track was something I thought was an achievement, because my dad was a local racer.”

Tom Busch might have been every bit as good — if not better — than his two racing offspring. But in his day, a guy who didn’t grow up south of the Mason-Dixon line had to be named A.J. or Mario or Parnelli if he wanted to drive with the good ol’ boys.

“He won a lot,” Kurt said of his father who now lives close to him on the placid sea — Lake Norman near Charlotte, North Carolina. “But it was like money, sponsors and the whole challenge of even getting to the Southwest Tour and Late Model division, that was even tough for us.

“So it’s amazing. Twenty years of racing at the top series and now having 700 starts, I never would have guessed.”

That No. 700 — Richard Petty leads with 1,185 starts, and Busch had better get out his Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars if he wants to catch The King — should come at Indianapolis is both coincidence and appropriate.

Doing the double

One of Busch’s career highlights occurred in 2014 when he became just one of four drivers to attempt The Double — racing in the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. He actually fared better at Indy, driving one of Michael Andretti’s cars to a sixth-place finish and Rookie of the Year honors.

He said in a perfect world, or at least one devoid of a virus pandemic, he’d be starting an engine in both Sunday’s Brickyard 400 as well as Saturday’s IndyCar Grand Prix.

“I looked at it, but with everything going on with COVID and a lack of preparation, it just kind of shut everything down,” said Busch, winner of 31 Cup Series races including the 2017 Daytona 500 and the 2004 series championship.

“It’s just the timing wasn’t right,” Busch said of starting both races.

So instead of driving in the IndyCar race or even looking in from trackside, he’ll be watching on TV from safe social distance.

“I would have really liked to have enjoyed seeing the IndyCars and Xfinity on track, but it’s time to stay in the bubble and stay isolated,” Busch said about a 700th career Cup Series start that, like Jimmy Spencer at the Brickyard in 2002, he never saw coming.

Contact Ron Kantowski at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow @ronkantowski on Twitter.