Why I Love NASCAR: The Brothers Busch

The brothers Busch - love them or loathe them, they have undeniable talent
on track.  Credit: Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR

The brothers Busch are a fun pair to watch on the circuit in recent years. Although brothers in NASCAR is not rare, this pair has made a huge splash since entering the NASCAR Sprint Cup series and have completely dominated since their arrival. Not so much in Cup wins, but in winning races and stealing headlines, very important categories to dominate. Having these boys in NASCAR is an at times controversial, but definitely a positive thing.

Kurt Busch, the senior brother, entered NASCAR at the Sprint Cup level in 2001. In the next three years he started winning races and won the inaugural NASCAR Nextel Cup Championship, an impressive feat for any driver, but especially one for someone who had just started three seasons previously. Young, a bit brash, and a tad cocky, I can distinctly recall a post-race interview when Kurt Busch volunteered that if the viewing audience thought he had talent, they should wait until his brother Kyle hit the circuit! Those were prophetic words indeed!

Kyle Busch burst onto the NASCAR Sprint Cup Circuit in 2005 driving for Hendrick Motorsports and winning the Rookie of the Year. Dozens and dozens of wins followed in all three of NASCAR’s top three series. He is undeniably talented, brash like his brother, focused on winning, and a bit of a punk. Over the years he’s had run-ins with other drivers, his own crew, and Rick Hendrick. Released from his Hendrick contract, Coach Joe Gibbs grabbed Kyle and began a very profitable and powerful relationship. Kyle’s style used to be wreckers or checkers (flag). Over the past couple of years his style has evolved, morphed into a more mature style.  More concerned with winning the ever-elusive championship, Kyle Busch has reined in the younger more impatient Kyle and is channeling a “new Kyle” whose goal it is to reign supreme in November.

Here Kurt leads Kyle, but either way, the Busch brothers meet on track numerous times.
Credit: Andy Lyons/Getty Images for NASCAR

Kurt and Kyle Busch have respectively met one another in victory lane to offer warm and hearty congratulations to the victor even though they were fierce competitors on the track. They have celebrated with their mother in Las Vegas and shown that they are indeed a family.  For the simple fact that I am a parent and have two sons myself, I appreciate this obvious familial connection and love played out before the viewing audience over the years. It appears sincere to me which feeds my parental acceptance of the pair.

This year saw the dissolution of Kurt Busch’s marriage to his wife of nearly five years. The couple had apparently been separated for quite some time when Kurt Busch appeared at a race this summer with a different attractive blonde woman at his side at a race. Because of the discretion of NASCAR media and the tight-knit community that is NASCAR, the separation was quiet and, not until he was ready to publicly move on did Kurt Busch present his new lady love. Although I am always saddened by failed marriages, I do respect the way Kurt Busch and the NASCAR community refused to play out a scandalous hurtful campaign in the media.

Kyle Busch’s marriage is approaching the one year mark to his gorgeous bride Samantha. Many comment that Samantha was just the force needed to mold Kyle Busch into a Championship driver and not just a “winning races” one. Samantha’s savvy business mind, use of social media, and model looks keep her front and center in the mainstream world as well as the world of NASCAR. Young, calculating, and unabashedly involved, she seems to have channeled Kyle Busch’s energy into a streamlined infallible strategy to win his first Championship.  Only time will tell how this power couple survives the ups and downs of marriage, failed bids at Championships, and the pressures of living life in the spotlight. But, in the meantime, it is intoxicatingly fun watching the new generation of NASCAR’s “It Couple” navigate the spotlight.

The Busch brothers are talented, successful, and interesting in their own right. My intention was not to lump them together in one column because I think of them as one entity, but because of their relationship as siblings is a fascinating one when they are both so relevant in the sport simultaneously. My prediction is we’ll be talking about the Brothers Busch for many years to come and they will most certainly carve a name for themselves in the NASCAR history books. They already have! And, so, for all of these reasons, the Brothers Busch are yet more reasons why I love NASCAR.