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The stats say it all for Kurt Busch. He has won 34 NASCAR Cup races, including a Daytona 500 and a Cup championship.
Or do they?
That will be the decision posed to NASCAR Hall of Fame voters on May 20 when they try to decide whether to make Busch a first ballot selection into the shrine.
Full disclosure: I am on the panel.
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Panelists vote for two of the 10 nominees from the Modern Era ballot and one of the five nominees from the Pioneer ballot. The two drivers from the Modern Era ballot who earn the most votes and the one driver from the Pioneer ballot with the most votes earn spots in the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Busch is tied for 26th overall in victories. Every driver ahead of him who is eligible to be in the Hall of Fame has been enshrined. Every driver with a Cup championship who is eligible is also in the Hall.
Busch has more wins than any other driver on the Modern Era ballot and none of the driver nominees have won a Cup title.
The drivers on the Modern Era ballot are Busch, Jeff Burton (21 Cup wins), Greg Biffle (19 Cup wins and an Xfinity and a truck title), Neil Bonnett (18), Harry Gant (18), Randy LaJoie (two-time Xfinity champion) and Jack Sprague (three-time truck champion). Randy Dorton (whose engines won nine championships across NASCAR national series), Tim Brewer (two-time Cup champion crew chief) and Harry Hyde (one Cup championship as a crew chief) also are on the ballot.
If people question whether Busch should be voted in on the first ballot, it will be because of his volatile driving tenure.
Busch often clashed with the media and occasionally other drivers. Jimmy Spencer infamously punched him in the face after one race.
He was suspended for one race in 2012 for threatening a reporter. Full disclosure: I am that reporter.
He was suspended for three races in 2015 after a civil no-contact order was issued against him for alleged domestic abuse. The suspension was lifted when it was determined no criminal charges would be filed.
He drove for seven race teams during his career — atypical for someone of his prowess — over 22 years.
Most of those organizations would credit Busch with making them better in some fashion. Busch’s intensity and knowledge of cars was rarely matched. He pushed people around. And when he worked with people in high-pressure situations who didn’t take things he said personally in the heat of the moment, they thrived.
Busch’s NASCAR career has been dormant since he suffered a concussion in a crash at Pocono in 2022. His injury generated significant discussion regarding safety issues with the Next Gen car and created an urgency to fix them.
How many more wins would he have earned if his career wasn’t cut short? Hard to tell, but the fact that 23XI kept him around to help the team after his injury speaks volumes of what he meant to the organization.
The stats don’t lie. It will just be up to voters, who are given no parameters for their criteria to vote. They can take into account how they feel about the character of the person if they want, but there’s no requirement that they must.
The fact is, there are 25 drivers with fewer Cup wins than Busch who are in the Hall of Fame. That should convince enough voters to put him in.
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
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