NASCAR: Kurt Busch’s career takes an intriguing turn
By Asher Fair
Kurt Busch is set to do something throughout the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season that he has never done before in his illustrious career.
It was announced last June that Trackhouse Racing Team would be acquiring Chip Ganassi Racing after the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season, and this was an announcement that essentially came out of nowhere.
Before being presented with the vision of the Justin Marks and Pitbull-owned team, Chip Ganassi Racing had not even been looking to sell their operation.
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But team owner Chip Ganassi believed in that vision, and so the 2021 season turned out to be his final season in Cup Series ownership.
This left the team’s two drivers, Ross Chastain and Kurt Busch, without rides for 2022.
Neither driver had a contract to compete in 2022 anyway. Chastain was in his first year with the team in 2021, and Busch initially extended his Chip Ganassi Racing deal through 2021 because he wanted the opportunity to drive the Next Gen car.
But in 2020, the launch of the Gen 7 car was pushed back from 2021 to 2022 due to various COVID-19-related restrictions.
However, both drivers did land new rides for 2022. Chastain is set to move to Trackhouse Racing Team, while Busch is set to move to 23XI Racing.
And this has given Busch the opportunity to do something that he has never done since entering the Cup Series in 2000.
Busch is set to pilot the #45 Toyota for the Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan-owned team alongside Bubba Wallace, who has driven the #23 Toyota since the team entered the Cup Series last year. 23XI Racing purchased a charter for Busch’s car from StarCom Racing, which shut down after the 2021 season.
In 756 career Cup Series starts, the 43-year-old Las Vegas, Nevada native has never before driven for Toyota.
He has driven for both of the other active manufacturers, Ford and Chevrolet, plus Dodge before they left the series following the 2012 season.
Busch entered the Cup Series with Roush Racing in 2000 and drove one of their Fords through the 2005 season. He then moved to Team Penske (known as Penske Racing South, Penske Championship Racing and Penske Racing during his time there) in 2006 and drove a Dodge through 2011.
In 2012, he drove for Chevrolet for the first time with Phoenix Racing and then Furniture Row Racing, where he remained in 2013. In 2014, he moved to Stewart-Haas Racing. From 2014 to 2016, the team competed with Chevrolet before switching to Ford for 2017. Busch remained with the team through 2018 before moving back to Chevrolet with Chip Ganassi Racing in 2019.
This will make Busch just the second driver to compete for each of the last four Cup Series manufacturers. The only driver who had ever done so until now was Kasey Kahne.
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Busch is set to make his first official Cup Series start with Toyota in the 2022 season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway this afternoon. This race is set to be broadcast live on FOX beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET. Start your free trial of FuboTV today!