NASCAR: No other driver has done what Kurt Busch just pulled off
By Asher Fair
Kurt Busch won Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway, and in doing so, he achieved something that nobody else has.
Kurt Busch made the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season his ninth consecutive winning season on Sunday afternoon, winning the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway after making a late pass on Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson.
The win was his first win since joining 23XI Racing as the driver of the #45 Toyota at the start of the season, and it was 23XI Racing’s second win since joining the Cup Series at the start of last year.
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The 2004 series champion’s 34th career victory, which came in just his 13th start with the Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan-owned team, was also his first victory for Toyota.
He is now the only driver to win for each of the last four Cup Series manufacturers.
Trackhouse Racing Team acquired Chip Ganassi Racing, the team for which Busch competed from 2019 to 2021, after the 2021 season, but Busch did not stick around. His move from Chip Ganassi’s team to 23XI Racing made the 2022 season his first season competing for Toyota.
His switch from Chevrolet to Toyota made him just the second driver to compete for the last four Cup Series manufacturers, including current rival Ford as well as Dodge, which left the series after the 2012 season.
From 2000 to 2021, the 43-year-old Las Vegas, Nevada native made a total of 756 starts: 284 with Chevrolet, 256 with Ford, and 216 with Dodge.
Busch won 16 races with Ford, including 14 for Roush Racing and two for Stewart-Haas Racing, as well as 10 with Dodge, all for Team Penske. He also won seven races with Chevrolet, including four more for Stewart-Haas Racing and three for Chip Ganassi Racing.
The only other driver to compete for Chevrolet, Dodge, Toyota, and Ford is Kasey Kahne, who competed in 529 races: 241 with Chevrolet, 216 with Dodge, 41 with Toyota, and 31 with Ford.
Kahne won 11 races with Dodge, all with Evernham Motorsports, and six with Chevrolet, all with Hendrick Motorsports. He won one race with Toyota in the 40th of his 41 starts for Team Red Bull.
But the 18-time Cup Series race winner never won a race with Ford. In 31 starts for Ford and Richard Petty Motorsports in 2010, his best finishes were runner-up finishes at Michigan International Speedway and Daytona International Speedway.
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How many more wins will Busch earn during his time with 23XI Racing? While he has been the subject of retirement rumors in recent years, he joined the team on a multi-year deal. Now riding a nine-year winning streak, he may very well not be finished making trips to victory lane quite yet.