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Kyle Busch
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Kyle Thomas Busch (born May 2, 1985 in Las Vegas, Nevada) nicknamed "Rowdy Busch," "Wild Thing," and "Shrub" is an American race car driver. He drives the #18 M&M's Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Sprint Cup Series, the #18 Interstate Batteries / Z-Line Designs / NOS Energy Drink Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Nationwide Series, and the #51 Miccosukee Resorts Toyota Tundra for Billy Ballew Motorsports in the Camping World Truck Series. He currently has the record for most wins in a season between the three series with 21 wins, the most recent win at Texas Motor Speedway in the NASCAR Nationwide Series on November 1, 2008.
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Encyclopedia
Kyle Thomas Busch (born May 2, 1985 in Las Vegas, Nevada) nicknamed "Rowdy Busch," "Wild Thing," and "Shrub" is an American race car driver. He drives the #18 M&M's Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Sprint Cup Series, the #18 Interstate Batteries / Z-Line Designs / NOS Energy Drink Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Nationwide Series, and the #51 Miccosukee Resorts Toyota Tundra for Billy Ballew Motorsports in the Camping World Truck Series. He currently has the record for most wins in a season between the three series with 21 wins, the most recent win at Texas Motor Speedway in the NASCAR Nationwide Series on November 1, 2008. He also is the only NASCAR driver to win races in two of its national touring series on the same day by winning the Camping World Truck Series and Nationwide Series races held on February 21, 2009. With these victories, he also became the only NASCAR competitor to simultaneously hold the points lead in two of the organization's touring series.
Busch started his NASCAR career at age 16, year 2001 in the Craftsman Truck Series, but was removed from racing due to a new rule set by NASCAR disallowing anyone persons under the age of 18 to compete in NASCAR's top divisions.
Almost three years after the incident Busch won his first career NASCAR race in dominating fashion on May 14, 2004, leading 236 out of 250 laps in the Busch Series (now known as Nationwide) race at Richmond International Raceway, driving for Rick Hendrick. At the end of the season Busch won the 2004 Busch Series Rookie of the Year with 5 wins, making him the record holder of most races won by a driver in their rookie season.
A year later, Busch won his first career Craftsman Truck Series race on May 20, 2005, at Lowe's Motor Speedway
, driving for Billy Ballew Motorsports. Later in the year, he won his first career NASCAR Nextel Cup race (now known as Sprint Cup) on
September 4, 2005 at Auto Club Speedway (Fontana) , driving for Rick Hendrick. At the end of the season Busch won the 2005 Nextel Cup Rookie of the Year with 2 wins. The earlier win at Fontana made Kyle Busch eligible to become a part of the 18 NASCAR Triple Threats, a group of drivers who have won a race in NASCAR's top three divisions.
Childhood
Busch’s first driving lessons came at the age of 6 as he cruised the cul-de-sac of his family’s Las Vegas home in a makeshift go-kart. Although he was too small to reach the throttle, Busch still was able to pick up the basics thanks to father Tom, who controlled the gas pedal as his young son steered the kart.
Throughout his childhood, Kyle Busch spent countless hours as an apprentice to his father and older brother Kurt Busch (2004 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Champion) in the family garage learning to build and repair race cars. By the age of 10, he was a full-fledged mechanic and served as crew chief of his older brother’s dwarf car team.
In 1998, shortly after his 13th birthday, Busch’s driving career officially began, but schoolwork was always made first priority. His parents stressed accountability, so if Busch wanted to race, he was responsible for working on, repairing and paying for his own cars. He learned quickly that carelessness on the track proved costly and sometimes meant not racing the next weekend.
From 1999 through 2001, Busch earned more than 65 wins in legends cars as he racked up two track championships at Las Vegas Motor Speedway’s “Bullring” before moving to late models. Winning seemed to come naturally as the youngster captured 10 victories in late model competition at the Bullring in 2001.
In 2002 Kyle Busch graduated a year early with honors from Durango High School in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Personal life
Kyle Busch Foundation
The Kyle Busch Foundation is dedicated to providing essential tools for less fortunate children throughout the country. KBF will concentrate its efforts on assisting organizations in fostering a safe environment for children to live, learn and challenge themselves as well as seeing that day to day needs are met.
His foundation sponsors his #51 late model which is driven by Alex Haase. Kyle also has personal sponsorship deals in place with NOS Energy Drink and Electric Visual, with both appearing on his late model at one time or another.
NASCAR career
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
At 16, Busch competed in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for Roush Racing as a replacement after the team's two drivers were released midway in the 2001 season, and earned two top-10 finishes in six starts what was scheduled to be a full-season campaign for 2002. (In 2000, NASCAR rules changed to permit a driver to make up to seven starts -- up from five -- in a season before becoming a full-time driver for rookie status.)
Busch was the fastest in practice for a 2001 Craftsman Truck Series race at California Speedway in Fontana, CA, when he was ejected from the track by CART officials because the American Racing Wheels 200 was part of a CART weekend featuring the Marlboro 500 CART FedEx Championship Series event. Marlboro threw Busch out of the garage because of an interpretation of the Master Settlement Agreement of 1998, prohibiting persons under 18 years of age in participating in events sponsored by tobacco companies. (The MSA also resulted in the benching in 2006 of 17-year old Grand-Am Krohn Racing driver Colin Braun for three sportscar races held in conjunction with the Indy Racing League because Marlboro sponsored both of Penske Racing's Indy Racing League efforts. In 2008, four full-time USAR Hooters Pro Cup drivers were banned from participating in the Sears Auto Center 150 at the Milwaukee Mile because they were under 18, and the race was held in conjunction with an IndyCar race with Marlboro sponsorship on the Penske cars.)
Six weeks after the incident, NASCAR imposed a minimum age of 18 years starting in 2002 to prevent future incidents from happening again, because Winston was the premier series sponsor. (For 2007, the rule has changed; Camping World (East and West) Series and Whelen Modified (North and South) Tours will now permit drivers as young as 16 to enter the races. NASCAR will also not allow an IRL race to be held in conjunction with either tour because of age restrictions.)
When the age requirements were put in place, Busch switched from NASCAR to the American Speed Association (ASA) series, a Midwest based company that also aided in his success; in the 2002 season, Busch finished eighth in the championship points for the ASA series.
2005
Busch returned to the Craftsman Truck Series in 2005 for a limited number of races in Billy Ballew Motorsports's Chevrolet's, winning at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Dover International Speedway, and the fall race in Atlanta Motor Speedway, all 200-mile races. Busch became the youngest driver to win a Truck Series race, at 20 years 19 days.
2006
Busch repeated his Lowe's victory in 2006 in a truck painted to resemble the Rowdy Burns car from Days of Thunder, in a tribute to Bobby Hamilton (who was the stunt driver for the character), who was in the midst of a cancer battle which would later take his life.
2007
Busch won two more truck races in the #51 Billy Ballew Motorsports truck towards the end of the 2007 season, at Atlanta on October 27 and at Phoenix on November 9. In 2008, he will drive the #51 Billy Ballew Motorsports truck with David Stremme and one other driver.
2008
Kyle Busch started the season off with a third place finish in the Chevy Silverado 250 at Daytona International Speedway, and followed it up a week later with a win in the San Bernardino County 200 at the newly named Auto Club Speedway (previously California Speedway) in Fontana, California. Two weeks later at Atlanta, he raced to another win in the American Commercial Lines 200. Busch acquired his 2nd Craftsman Truck Series pole for the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. His 3rd win of the season was at Bristol Motor Speedway on Wednesday, August 20th, 2008.
| 2009 Season - Races 1 - 25 |
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| # | Date | Race | Track | Start | Finish | Rank | Behind |
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| 1 | 02/13/2009 | NextEra Energy Resources 250 | Daytona International Speedway | 19th | 2nd | 2nd | -20 | | 2 | 02/21/2009 | San Bernardino County 200 | Auto Club Speedway | 1st | 1st | 1st | +5 | | 2 | 03/07/2009 | American Commercial Lines 200 | Atlanta Motor Speedway | 1st | 1st | 1st | +25 |
- DNA means the driver did not attempt the race
NASCAR Nationwide Series
Upon turning 18, Busch partnered with Hendrick Motorsports to run a set of six NASCAR Busch Series races at selected tracks, running the #87 Ditech.com Chevrolet Monte Carlo for NEMCO Motorsports. During his seat time in that ride, Busch finished a Busch Series career-high second in his first NASCAR Busch Series race at the Lowe's Motor Speedway in May 2003. He also teamed with Hendrick to run selected ARCA RE/MAX Series races, where he won races at the Kentucky Speedway and the Nashville Superspeedway, where he also started from the pole position (his other pole in 2003 was at Pocono). Busch's first full-time season began in 2004, as he competed in the Lowe's car vacated by Brian Vickers, who had moved up to the NEXTEL Cup series. Busch easily clinched Rookie of the Year honors in the series, and clearly showed his stronghold on the Busch series with the start of the series-he received his first top-10 finish of the season at the second race in Rockingham, his first pole of the season in the fifth race, and claimed his first victory at the Richmond International Raceway at the Funai 250 in May. Busch went on to claim five wins in 2004, finishing second in the overall points to Martin Truex, Jr. and claiming the Rookie of the Year title. Busch won the Carquest Auto Parts 300 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in 2005. Busch won the Sharpie Mini 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2006. 2007 has been an interesting year for Busch. Two wins, the (Nicorette 300 at Altanta and Sam's Town 300 at Las Vegas), were in sight before mistakes put him out of contention. On July 7, 2007, Busch finally capitalized and won his first ever race at Daytona with a win in the Winn-Dixie 250. He also edged out Matt Kenseth by .085 seconds to win the Yellow Transportation 300 at Kansas Speedway, and then went on to finish off his NASCAR Busch Series career with Hendrick Motorsports in style, with a dominating victory in his last ride in the #5 car at Phoenix on November 10.
In 2008, Kyle ran 30 of 35 total races and along with Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and Tony Stewart helped win the 2008 Nationwide series Owners Championship for Joe Gibbs Racing for the number 20 car. Kyle ran in the series for three different teams and in 4 different numbers, running for Braun Racing's number 32 with Beringer and Dollar General sponsorship, for D'Hondt Motorsports number 92 Toyota with Zippo BLU sponsorship for the Zippo 200, and for Joe Gibbs Racing in the number 18: Interstate Batteries, DLP, Z line and Farm Bureau and number 20 Doosan Infracore, Farm Bureau and Z line Toyota. Busch accumulated 4 poles and 20 top tens in his partial season, 18 of which where top 5's and of those 10 where history tying wins which tied the Nationwide series record for most wins in a season with Sam Ard who had accomplished the feat some 24 years earlier.
- DNA means the driver did not arrive for the race
2009
In 2009, Busch plans to run full time in the Nationwide Series driving the #18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
| 2009 Season - Races 1 - 35 |
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| # | Date | Race | Track | Start | Finish | Rank | Behind |
|---|
| 1 | 02/14/2008 | Camping World 300 | Daytona International Speedway | 13th | 4th | 4th | -30 | | 2 | 02/21/2008 | Stater Brothers 300 | Auto Club Speedway | 2nd | 1st | 1st | +20 | | 3 | 02/28/2008 | Sam's Town 300 | Las Vegas Motor Speedway | 2nd | 39th | 5th | -109 |
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Busch ran 6 races in 2004 in the #84 Carquest Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. His highest finish was 24th at California Speedway.
After the announcement that long time Hendrick NEXTEL Cup series driver Terry Labonte would be running a limited schedule in 2005 and 2006, Busch was picked to take over the #5 Kellogg's/Carquest Auto Parts Chevrolet Monte Carlo for Hendrick Motorsports.
He won his first Cup race at the Sony HD 500 at California Speedway in Fontana, California in September 2005, and is the youngest-ever winner in the NASCAR Cup Series, at 20 years, 125 days. He followed that up with another win two months later in November 2005 at Phoenix International Raceway. Busch clinched the 2005 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Rookie of the Year title before the end of the 2005 season.
2006
A victory in the Lenox Industrial Tools 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway led to a stronger chance of qualifying for the Chase for the Cup during the last race before the 2006 Chase at Richmond International Raceway, in the Chevy Rock & Roll 400, where he finished second after leading the most laps. He entered the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup fourth in Cup points.
Busch started mid-pack, by mid-pack that means he started in the middle of the 43 car field, in the first race of the Chase at the New Hampshire International Speedway but got caught up in an incident on lap four when he made contact with #66 Best Buy Chevrolet of Jeff Green, and knocked the front suspension out of line, eventually spinning out and wrecking the car. Busch followed up the next week at Dover International Speedway with an initially strong run before an engine failure took him out of the race. Busch then went to the Kansas Speedway and led several laps before being caught for speeding on pit road and finished in the bottom half of the top-ten.
Busch finished the season in tenth place in the 2006 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series standings, 448 points behind champion Jimmie Johnson. His winnings for the 2006 season totaled $5,537,337. Busch is currently the youngest driver to make the NASCAR NEXTEL Chase for the Cup. He is also the youngest pole sitter in NEXTEL Cup history.
2007
With his milestone win at the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, on March 25, 2007, Busch became the first NASCAR NEXTEL Cup driver to win in NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow. He also scored Hendrick Motorsports their 200th NASCAR win (in all series), and also scored Chevrolet's 600th NASCAR victory, the first by the Chevrolet Impala since Wendell Scott's historic 1963 win in Jacksonville, Florida. At the Aaron's 312 Busch Race at Talladega, Busch went on a wild ride down the backstretch when he got turned into teammate Casey Mears' car by Tony Stewart, which was similar to the bump Brian Vickers gave to Jimmie Johnson in the 2006 UAW-Ford 500. The car spun towards the outside wall and flipped onto its roof. The car then slid down the track and hit the turn 3 grass, flipping side over side. The car flipped a total of seven times, but Busch walked away unscathed. In the Nextel All-Star Challenge at the Lowe's Motor Speedway, he and older brother Kurt Busch got together, knocking them both out of the race.
Departure from Hendrick
On June 13, 2007, Busch announced his plans to leave Hendrick Motorsports after the 2007 season. The two sides had been working on a contract extension but eventually agreed mutually to part ways. It was announced the same day that Dale Earnhardt Jr. would be replacing Kyle Busch at Hendrick Motorsports. However, days later Kyle Busch stated that he had no idea he was going to be released.. It was announced on August 14, 2007, that Busch had chosen Joe Gibbs Racing for his team in the 2008 season. He replaced J.J. Yeley in the #18 Toyota Camry.
2008
Kyle Busch drives the number 18 M&M's Automobile for Joe Gibbs Racing. Busch's season started off with a great running in the 50th Annual Daytona 500 before finishing 4th. He led the most laps (86). He followed that with another 4th place finish in the Auto Club 500. As a result, he took the lead in the points standings for the first time in his career.
Kyle Busch won the pole for the UAW-Dodge 400 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The pole was Busch's 3rd pole of his career.
Kyle Busch led 173 of the 325 laps and won the Kobalt Tools 500 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. It was the 5th career win for Busch.
Kyle Busch had a promising run in the Goody's Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville Speedway, but finished 38th due to a broken transmission, and the poor finish dropped him to 5th in points, 84 points out of the points lead.
He turned his fortunes around with a strong run in the Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. He ran up front the whole race and finished the race third.
Three weeks later Busch won his first restrictor plate race by taking the checkered flag at the Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway.
A week later at Richmond International Raceway in the Dan Lowry 400, Kyle Busch was driving the #18 Pedigree Car racing for the lead when he and Dale Earnhardt Jr. bumped into each other with four laps to go. This allowed Clint Bowyer to slip by for the lead (and eventually, the win) with Busch finishing second. Earnhardt fans were very displeased with the incident. Earnhardt, though, told reporters "rubbin's racin,'" a term used by those who do not look down on the amount of contact in the sport. The incident later lead for him to be booed at Driver Introductions by the unforgiving "Junior Nation". Earlier that day, Busch announced the "Kyle's Miles" program, inviting consumers to go to www.dogsrule.com. Kyle's Miles is a team up with Pedigree to help dogs in shelters and breed rescue organizations.
Busch rebounded the following week and became the youngest driver to win a race at Darlington Speedway. He led 169 laps in route to his third 2008 victory.
Following the 24th place finish at the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race (a non-points race) Busch qualified 1st for the Coca-Cola 600, getting the 4th pole position of his Sprint Cup career. He again had a dominant car in the race, but a battery problem considerably slowed his pace later in the event. His team replaced the failing battery nearing the end, and Busch rallied back to lead the race, eventually settling for a third place finish.
On June 1, Kyle Busch won the Best Buy 400 at Dover International Speedway, his 8th career Nascar Sprint Cup win, and his 4th of the season.
Just a couple weeks after Kyle Busch's fourth cup win of the season, he won another on June 22nd in Sonoma, his first win and best career finish on a road course in the Sprint Cup Series.
On July 5, Kyle Busch won the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway after a last lap caution ended the race. This was his 10th career victory, and 6th of the 2008 season. A week later at Chicagoland Speedway, he recorded his 11th career win, and 7th of the season in the LifeLock.com 400. After two poor races in a row, he won his 8th win of the season and 12th of his career at the Centurion Boats at the Glen at Watkins Glen International. Sweeping both road courses races of the season in the process.
On August 24 at Bristol Motor Speedway, Carl Edwards tapped Busch's rear bumper on lap 470/500 to take the lead Busch had owned for most of the race. After the race, Busch pulled alongside to bump and smash into Edwards repeatedly, to "let him know I didn't appreciate the way he pasted me." Edwards responded by spinning out Busch. Busch was called to the hauler after the incident. The following week, Nascar announced that both Edwards and Busch were being placed on probation for their after track antics.
With his series leading eight wins, Busch was seeded in first place for the 2008 Chase for the Sprint Cup with an 80 point lead over "rival" Edwards. Though many analysts had predicted a three way championship battle between Busch, Edwards, and Busch's ex-teammate Jimmie Johnson, the 18 team had seen a decline in results since the Brickyard, while Johnson and Edwards were coming on strong. Busch's hopes for his first championship were dashed by two consecutive DNF's at Loudon and Dover, wiping out his 80 point lead and dropping him to 12th in points. However, Busch ralled back with top fives and gained two more spots to close out his first season with JGR 10th in points.
2009
On February 12 Kyle Busch won the second Gatorade Duel at Daytona. This was the first qualifying race win for Busch. Busch will start fourth in the 51st Daytona 500. Busch led 88 laps, leading the most for the second year in a row. However, he was taken out on lap 125 during the big one when Dale Earnhardt Jr., who wasn't on the lead lap, turned intoBrian Vickers and wrecked him, Busch, and several other drivers.
On the 21st February 2009, Busch made NASCAR history, becoming the first person in the history of the sport to win races in two of NASCAR's touring series in the same day by winning the San Bernardino County 200 in the afternoon and the Stater Brothers 300 in the evening. It has also been notified that at the April Atlanta Motor Speedway race, Busch will be running with Nascar Kart Racing on the back to promote the new game for the Wii.
March 1st meant victory for Busch; he won the 2009 Shelby 427 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in his hometown. After the race, he and his brother exchanged a long, passionate hug, perhaps signaling the end of their feud. Darrell Waltrip was quoted as saying it was the "sweetest thing he had ever seen".
| 2009 PreSeason Races |
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| # | Date | Race | Track | Start | Finish | Rank | Behind |
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| | 02/12/2009 | Gatorade Duel - Race 2 | Daytona International Speedway | 8th | 1st | - | - | | 2009 Regular Season - Races 1 - 26 |
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| # | Date | Race | Track | Start | Finish | Rank | Behind |
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| 1 | 02/15/2009 | Daytona 500 | Daytona International Speedway | 4th | 41st | 38th | -140 | | 2 | 02/22/2009 | Auto Club 500 | Auto Club Speedway | 10th | 3rd | 18th | -170 | | 3 | 03/01/2009 | Shelby 427 | Las Vegas Motor Speedway | 1st | 1st | 6th | -54 | | 4 | 03/08/2009 | Kobalt Tools 500 | Atlanta Motor Speedway | 9th | | | |
- Red means the starting position based on 2007 owner points.
- Blue means the starting position based on 2008 owner points at the time.
- Green means the driver had to move to the back of the field due to an engine change or a backup car.
Career NASCAR Sprint Cup Statistics
| Year | Races | Wins | Poles | Top 5 | Top 10 | DNF | Finish | Start | Winnings | Season Rank | Team(s) |
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| 2004 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 35.2 | 27.2 | $394,489 | 50th | Hendrick Motorsports | | 2005 | 36 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 13 | 8 | 21.0 | 18.6 | $4,185,239 | 20th | Hendrick Motorsports | | 2006 | 36 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 18 | 2 | 15.5 | 14.9 | $4,821,093 | 10th | Hendrick Motorsports | | 2007 | 36 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 20 | 2 | 14.1 | 15.0 | $4,685,518 | 5th | Hendrick Motorsports | | 2008 | 36 | 8 | 2 | 17 | 21 | 2 | 12.0 | 10.1 | $6,617,590 | 10th | Joe Gibbs Racing | | 2009 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 15.0 | 5.0 | $1,063,603 | 6th | Joe Gibbs Racing | | | | Totals | 153 | 13 | 10 | 49 | 74 | 19 | 18.9 | 15.4 | $21,767,537 | | |
(Data as of March 1, 2008)
Races Won
Nextel/Sprint Cup (13 career wins)
Busch/Nationwide Series (22 career wins)
- 2009 (1 win) Stater Brothers 300 (Fontana)
- 2008 (10 wins) O'Reilly 300 (Fort Worth), Bashas' Supermarkets 200 (Phoenix), Corona México 200 (Mexico City), Carquest Auto Parts 300 (Charlotte), Dollar General 300 (Chicagoland), Kroger 200 (ORP), Camping World RV Service 300 (Fontana), Camping World RV Sales 200 (Dover), Dollar General 300 (Charlotte), O'Reilly Challenge (Texas)
- 2007 (4 wins) Winn-Dixie 250 (Daytona), Emerson Radio 250 (Richmond), Yellow Transportation 300 (Kansas City), Arizona Travel 200 (Phoenix)
- 2006 (1 win) Sharpie Mini 300 (Bristol)
- 2005 (1 win) Carquest Auto Parts 300 (Charlotte)
- 2004 (5 wins) Funai 250 (Richmond), Carquest Auto Parts 300 (Charlotte), Meijer 300 (Sparta), Kroger 200 (Indianapolis), Cabela's 250 (Brooklyn)
Craftsman/Camping World Truck Series (11 career wins)
Nicknames
He is often nicknamed Shrub, since he is the younger brother of NASCAR driver Kurt Busch and a small bush is called a shrub. He is also most commonly referred to as Rowdy Busch after Rowdy Burns in the movie Days of Thunder, as well as Little Busch after the TV series Lil' Bush. Recently Mike Joy coined the nickname Wild Thing as he is always making daring and bold moves on the track.
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