Kyle Busch has been contending for wins behind the wheel of a race car for the majority of his life. Now he has provided an interesting look into his racing origins as part of a sit-down interview.
In an exclusive clip provided to Heavy, Busch sat down with Kyle Petty for the Season 3 premiere of “Dinner Drive With Kyle Petty.” He explained that he grew up competing at tracks around the Southwest after getting a later start compared to other drivers. He also revealed that he actually had to stretch the truth about his age in order to compete in some events.
“When I got my start though, it was Legends cars,” Busch told Petty during a sitdown at Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen. “I raced in Vegas, I raced in Salt Lake City, Lake Havasu City, but I was 13 when I started.
“You were supposed to be 14. I was 13. I may or may not have worked on my birth certificate to get me ahead. So I’m 13, supposed to be 14, running Legends Cars.”
The Birth Certificate Work Backfired at 1 Point in Time
Circle NetworkKyle Busch races a kart as a child.
Busch’s plan to get some racing reps worked when he was racing Legends cars around the Southwest. However, it backfired as he began to compete in some bigger vehicles.
“So now I turn 14, technically I’m 15, so I’m allowed to run Modifieds,” Busch continued. “So I’m on dirt racing, and I moved a guy out of the way for third place one night. I finished third, and after the race, he wants to fight.
“He goes, ‘Oh, my God, he’s just a kid.’ So he called the newspaper guy who ran public records and had him dig into public records — ‘How old is Kyle Busch?’ Figured out I was a year younger than I was supposed to [be], turned me in, so it got me kicked out.”
Busch ended up going back to Legends Cars after the truth surfaced about his age. Once he finally turned 16, he worked his way up to Super Late Models. Busch also made his Craftsman Truck Series debut after turning 16, and he delivered two top-10 finishes in six starts.
NASCAR ultimately changed the age requirements for its national series, so Busch had to step away after this debut in 2001. He ultimately made his return to NASCAR in 2003 as he turned 18, which kicked off a historic stretch of winning seasons.
Busch told the full story during the Season 3 premiere on Thursday, June 29, at 10 p.m. ET on the Circle Network. New episodes will air weekly on Thursday nights at 10 p.m. ET.
Circle is available for free over the air in Gray Television markets. The ad-supported streaming app is also available on Tubi, Samsung TV Plus, Peacock, The Roku Channel, Redbox, XUMO, and VIZIO SmartCast.
Busch Also Discussed Another Setback Later in His Career
Getting kicked back to Legends Cars disrupted Busch’s path to racing stardom. However, it was only a minor setback as he made his way through the ranks and became a multi-time champion across the national NASCAR series.
There was another setback later in Busch’s career that became a talking during the Season 3 premiere of “Dinner Drive With Kyle Petty” — a broken leg in the season-opening Xfinity Series race in 2015 that kept him out of the Cup Series for the first 11 weeks. Though Busch was able to work his way back to full health and win the first championship of his career after winning five of the 25 races in which he competed.
As Busch explained during this sitdown with Petty, being stuck at home was emotional. He said that there were times when he would be at home tearing up while watching the race because he was missing his time at the track.
This was not a simple time, but Busch had an important person in his corner — Samantha Busch. His wife was there every step of the way to be that all-important support system that he needed while recovering from the injury.
This support provided extra motivation for Busch during his rehab. He had the goal of providing his own support by being at the hospital for the birth of Brexton, and he was able to achieve this after working hard and pushing through his rehabilitation.
Comments
Kyle Busch Shares Racing Origins in Exclusive Interview Clip