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THROWBACK: Kyle Busch Makes His NASCAR Debut at the Age of 16

Published 08/07/2021, 4:23 PM EDT

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USA Today via Reuters

Back in 2001, a young teenager from Las Vegas burst onto the NASCAR scene. The Roush Racing team handed a 16-year-old Kyle Busch his NASCAR Truck Series debut, and he delivered handsomely. In a dream debut for Roush Racing, Busch managed to finish in ninth place the Lucas Oil Raceway.

After that, he went on the compete in five more races, only finishing in the Top 10 on one more occasion. Since then, there has been no stopping this star. His first Truck Series win came in 2005 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, and he went on to rack up 60 more wins.

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Growing out of the Truck scene, Busch joined the Xfinity arena in 2003 and the Cup Series in 2004. In the Xfinity Series, he once again made an impression when he bagged second at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Kyle Busch has come a long way since then

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Ever since his debut, Busch has been going from strength to strength. In the Truck Series, he has had a best finish of 14th in the championship, but won the 2009 Xfinity title. Admittedly, he had to wait a little before that elusive Cup Series title finally made its way towards him in 2015 and in 2019.

USA Today via Reuters

It is noteworthy that the 36-year-old has amassed 102 Xfinity wins and 59 Cup Series wins. In addition to that, he also has a streak of 17 consecutive years with at least one Cup Series win. If he manages to continue this in 2022 and 2023, he will equal Richard Petty’s record of 18.

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Obviously, one has to consider that he will be 38 in 2023, but he is still proving that he is competitive. It also helps that the Joe Gibbs Racing team is one of the top NASCAR teams, alongside Penske and Hendrick Motorsports. For now, Kyle Busch will focus on the 2021 season and the upcoming playoffs.

Kyle Busch Looks Back on his Xfinity Series Career After Retirement

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Written by:

Dhruv George

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.
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