NASCAR 2004: Career has been a rocket ride for Kurt Busch

Thursday, March 4, 2004 | 10:39 a.m.

It is difficult to imagine any driver having more of a meteoric rise in NASCAR than Las Vegas native Kurt Busch.

Busch, 25, began his racing career in 1994, driving Dwarf Cars at Pahrump Valley Speedway. Six years later, he was setting records in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series with Roush Racing and made his first NASCAR Winston Cup start.

Less than 10 years after first getting into a racecar on the quarter-mile dirt track in nearby Pahrump, Busch is an eight-time winner in stock-car racing's premier circuit and has more than $13 million in earnings.

After being named the Nevada State Dwarf Car Rookie of the Year in 1994, Busch went on to win three championships in Dwarf Cars and Legends Cars in Pahrump and at Las Vegas Speedway Park. He moved up to the NASCAR Southwest Series and promptly won the Rookie of the Year award in 1998. The following season, Busch won a record four consecutive races en route to becoming the youngest driver to win that series' championship.

It was while driving in a Southwest Series race at Sears Point Raceway (now Infineon Raceway) on a Winston Cup weekend that Busch got noticed by team owner Jack Roush. He was invited to try out for a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series ride with Roush in a well-documented audition that Roush referred to as the "Gong Show." Busch landed the job, beating out several other applicants, and proceeded to rewrite the Craftsman Truck Series record book in 2000.

Busch won an unprecedented four races as a rookie, finished second in the NCTS championship to teammate Greg Biffle and was named the series' Rookie of the Year.

In late 2000, Roush put Busch into the No. 97 Ford for seven of the final eight races of the season. Busch qualified 10th and finished 18th in his Winston Cup debut, at Dover International Speedway. His best finish in those seven races was a 13th-place effort at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Busch struggled 2001 -- his rookie Cup season -- but managed to post six top-10 finishes, including a season-best third place at Talladega Superspeedway in April of that year. He finished 27th in points and was runner-up to Kevin Harvick in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings.

Busch's breakout season in the Cup Series came in 2002. He earned his first Cup victory at Bristol Motor Speedway in the spring and then won three of the final five races of the season (Martinsville, Atlanta and Homestead-Miami). He posted 20 top-10 finishes in 36 races and finished a career-best third in points.

Last season, Busch again posted four victories (both Bristol races, California and Michigan) but also failed to finish a a career-high eight races. He was denied a second straight top-10 points finish when he was involved in an early accident in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Busch comes to Las Vegas ranked seventh in Nextel Cup points after two races. Busch opened the season with a 16th-place finish in the Daytona 500 and took eighth two weeks ago at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham.