Kyle Busch was once kicked out of a track for being too young. Now the NASCAR champ turns 40
CHARLOTTE N C AP Kyle Busch was hyped for NASCAR greatness long before he was a teenager by his Hall of Fame nominee brother who vowed if you think I m good wait until you see my little brother Busch s debut in a NASCAR national series race was delayed though when he turned up at California Speedway in intent to run the Truck Series race He dominated practice in a race sponsored by Marlboro but because he was only at the time was ruled ineligible to compete over NASCAR s interpretation of the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement The MSA prohibited individuals under from participating in events sponsored by tobacco companies And because NASCAR at the time was sponsored by Winston the series eventually adopted its own rule six weeks later implementing a minimum age requirement of that began in Busch had no choice but to move to the American Speed Association National Tour and then ARCA after graduating early from his Las Vegas high school Fast-forward to Friday when Busch celebrates his th birthday as a two-time Cup Series champion headed to Texas Motor Speedway with national series victories Kurt Busch his older brother by seven years and a nominee last week to next year s Hall of Fame class has one Cup title and career national series victories Busch can now laugh at his experience years ago at California Speedway where he went on to win five Cup races including the last one in before the track was shuttered by NASCAR Shut that place down he reported noting the irony that he s now sponsored by zone nicotine pouches which has an additional relationship with online retailer Nicokick Full circle moment Busch celebrated his birthday early over the Easter weekend which was NASCAR s only break of the -race schedule with a vacation with wife Samantha They left their two children home and Samantha made a heartfelt social media post honoring her husband Early celebration for Kyle s big - love ya babe Samantha wrote sharing a picture of herself and her husband at dinner on a beachfront In a separate image Kyle could also be seen with a small chocolate cake in front of him with a candle burning Busch reported he and Samantha made the the greater part of it even though he finds it complicated to unwind Just a nice little quiet time tried to disconnect that s not easy for me to do Busch declared So I m still kind of doing chosen work from afar emails and things like that And as for turning Well he wasn t exactly thrilled Busch is in his rd season in the Cup Series and although he joined Richard Childress Racing in and won three races he went winless in Cup last year for the first time in his career and missed the playoffs His losing streak headed to Texas is an eye-popping races I remember turning and thinking that was going to be it Busch reported It is what it is Samantha has made the best of that for me where we celebrated my birthday on that trip I don t feel much older than I did five six years ago So that s the good part of it And I m in pretty decent shape so thankful for all of that Busch briefly considered retirement at the end of the season when he parted approaches with Joe Gibbs Racing where he for now is the winningest driver in crew history with Denny Hamlin closing in on his mark Now he d like to race at least until his son Brexton turns and the two can compete against each other in NASCAR AP auto racing https apnews com hub auto-racing Source
