He Is the Reason I’m a Driver”: Biggest Influence on Kyle Busch’s NASCAR Career

Two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch held the wheels of a stock car
for the first time when he was quite young. In anNBC Sports
interview a few years ago, the
then-JGR driver reflected on his father’s impact on his racing career.

The passion for speed in the Busch family stemmed right from Tom Busch’s (Kyle
Busch’s father) racing days. Senior Busch was involved in several local racing
scenes and competed in various amateur racing events. Busch said about his dad,
“My dad was a huge part of my career essentially from the beginning. He is the
reason I’m a driver.”

The RCR icon began his racing journey back in the late 1990s when he took part
in the Legends car series in Las Vegas at the young age of 13. Since then, Tom
Busch has not raced that often owing to his neck injury from a race.

Busch explained to Steve Letarte, “It was about when I was 13, he kind of took
a step back and didn’t drive much anymore. So we worked on rebuilding a brand
new race car and that was gonna be my car for the following season.”

READ MORE:I’ve Not Won as Often”: Kyle Busch Decodes Newly…

The fact that Kyle Busch has made it to the topmost tier of NASCAR was made
possible by a series of priceless sacrifices. Being an employee of the school
district, Busch’s mother didn’t earn a lot of money.

Hence, it all came down to Busch’s father’s job as a tool distributor. “He
drove around town all day from four o’clock in the morning until six o’clock at
night, every single day,” recalled Busch. “He’d come home, and I’d help him
with the tool truck.”

Little did Kyle Busch know that his father was listening to everything the
former was telling Steve Letarte from a separate room! It’s then that Tom Busch
walked up to his son and said a word or two about him.