Back in May, when the likes of Harry Gant and Ray Hendrick were selected for the class of 2026 Hall of Fame, one entry surely turned heads. That was Kurt Busch. Despite a controversial career, he showed overwhelming results in the modern-era ballot by winning 61% votes. Now, as the ceremony draws closer, Kurt Busch took a moment to reflect on the journey that brought him to this pinnacle.

Kurt Busch’s nostalgic NASCAR journey

Kurt Busch recently revealed how he plans to attend his Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

“It was a ride. It wasn’t always peaches and cream and sunshine and rainbows. I hope to paint the picture over these next nine-ten months and then, of course, at the Hall of Fame event, when all of us go in for the class of 2026. It’s to paint a picture of my side of things and what led to this or why that happened.”

And surely what a ride Kurt Busch‘s NASCAR career was. He had one of the, if not the most prolific, careers in NASCAR history. This included 34 Cup Series race victories, one Cup title (2004), a crown-jewel Daytona 500 win (2017), finished in the top-5 in more than 20 percent of his starts, and won in 19 different seasons at 18 different tracks. Yup, that’s Kurt Busch for you!

However, as glorious as his career in terms of on-track performances, it wasn’t without its share of controversies. Notably, Kurt Busch received two major race suspensions. One was in 2012 for threatening veteran NASCAR reporter Bob Pockrass, for one race. The other major suspension was in 2015 for three races after a civil no-contact order was issued against him for alleged domestic abuse.

Busch, as he explained, wants to reveal things from his perspective as, beneath the controversies, was a driver molded by every stop on his journey.

“When I was with Barney Visser, literally sleeping on Todd Barrier’s couch out in Denver, Colorado, it was because I knew I could make it back to a team in North Carolina because North Carolina is my home.

“I grew up in Vegas, but I’m definitely a Southern boy because I got NASCAR in my blood.”

From Roush to Penske, James Finch to Barney Visser, and every crew and sponsor in between, Busch insists each chapter (good or chaotic) taught him something essential.

“Over the years there there’s so much respect that I have for all the crew guys and all the sponsors,” Busch concluded.

As he approaches his 2026 Hall of Fame induction, Kurt Busch is finally ready to tell the complete story in its rawest form – messy, triumphant, and, most importantly, human.

Kurt Busch’s vision for the NASCAR championship format

Now, as NASCAR inches closer to revealing the championship format for the upcoming season, Kurt Busch shared his proposal shaped by his firsthand experience in NASCAR racing. As you may remember, Busch himself raced under multiple championship formats. This included the traditional full-season grind to the original 10-race Chase and now the winner-take-all finale.

Busch believes that going forward, the ideal system sits somewhere in the middle rather than at either extreme. Speaking on SiriusXM’s The Morning Drive, Busch dismissed the idea of returning to a full-season points model, despite its vocal fan support. While purists argue it rewards consistency, Busch warned that it can drain suspense when one driver dominates early.

He pointed to Formula 1 as a cautionary example for such a system. He argued that champions clinched titles weeks or even months before the finale. This, naturally, leaves little intrigue for fans or competitors as the season approaches the end. Instead, Busch championed a hybrid approach.

“I think we need a little bit of a hybrid of what we have currently, versus a full 36-race schedule versus a 10-race playoff format, which is what I won under.”

His solution? A five-race championship series that blends regular-season merit with playoff intensity.

“I think you need a five-race style format, and you keep some points from the regular season, but it’s the five races, and you accumulate as many points as you can during those five. If you’re lucky enough to have four or five points in the bank coming into the final race, you use that to your advantage,” Busch explained.

In Busch’s eyes, this format strikes the balance NASCAR has been chasing for years. It perfectly rewards excellence, maintains drama, and ensures the champion earns it across every skill set the sport demands.