Kurt Busch
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40 free Kurt Busch trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Kurt Busch spent more than two decades in the NASCAR Cup Series, won 34 races and a championship, and rarely did any of it quietly. He arrived as a brash young talent, clashed with rivals, reporters and employers, and then rebuilt his reputation as a veteran who made every team he joined better. He was elected to the NASCAR Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. This quiz works as a racing reference you can play: the title season, the famous finishes he won and lost, the teams, car numbers and sponsors, the teammates and rivals, and his side trips into other kinds of motorsport. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you pick up the story as well as the stat. It suits long-time NASCAR fans testing their memory, newer fans catching up on one of the sport's most eventful careers, and anyone setting a motorsport round for trivia night.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which NASCAR legend gave rookie Kurt Busch a one-finger salute at 185 mph in a February 2001 race?
Dale Earnhardt
Dale Earnhardt made the gesture after door-to-door contact with the rookie, and Fox's replay cameras caught it. Earnhardt died in a crash on the final lap of that same race.
Q 02Which driver beat Kurt Busch by 0.002 seconds at Darlington in 2003, then NASCAR's closest timed finish?
Ricky Craven
Ricky Craven edged ahead as the two cars banged doors all the way to the line. It was the second and last Cup win of his career.
Q 03Kurt Busch passed Kyle Larson, who had run out of fuel, on the last lap in 2017 to win which race?
Daytona 500
The Daytona 500 was his first points-race win on a restrictor-plate track. It came as leader after leader ran dry over the final four laps.
Q 04Which basketball legend co-owned 23XI Racing when Kurt Busch drove for the team in his final Cup season?
Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan's team gave Busch the No. 45, a nod to the jersey number Jordan wore in baseball and briefly on his NBA comeback.
Q 05In 2012 Kurt Busch raced a paint scheme copying a fictional driver's 'ME' Cougar from which racing film?
Talladega Nights
Talladega Nights got its tribute at the track in its title. Busch spent months securing permission from Sony and Will Ferrell, then radioed lines from the film to his crew during the race.
Q 06In 2014 Kurt Busch attempted 'double duty', racing the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day as which other race?
Indianapolis 500
The Indianapolis 500 went better than anyone expected: he finished sixth and was named Rookie of the Year. His engine then failed at Charlotte, leaving the 1,100-mile bid unfinished.
Q 07After his first win for a new team in March 2006, Kurt Busch celebrated on the track by doing what?
Making a snow angel
Making a snow angel suited the weekend, as snow and sleet had canceled qualifying. The win was his fifth at the same track and his first in the famous No. 2 car.
Q 08Kurt Busch and his younger brother Kyle, both Cup Series champions, grew up in which western American city?
Las Vegas
Las Vegas was home, though the racing began out in the desert: Kurt first competed at 14 on a small track in Pahrump, introduced to the sport by his father.
Q 09Kurt Busch's 2004 title was the first decided under which ten-race playoff format, introduced that season?
The Chase
The Chase reset the points for the top ten drivers with ten races to go. Busch won its very first race and held on to take the title in the finale.
Q 10Kurt Busch earned a Pro Stock license and debuted at the 2011 Gatornationals in which other motorsport?
Drag racing
Drag racing suited him: he qualified for the field at his first attempt, then lost a close opening elimination round to future Pro Stock champion Erica Enders.
Q 11Kurt Busch joined Penske Racing in 2006 to take over the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge from which retiring champion?
Rusty Wallace
Rusty Wallace had driven Penske's No. 2 since 1991 and retired after 2005. Busch agreed the move in mid-season, and his old team released him only once it had Jamie McMurray lined up.
Q 12Kurt Busch won the 2004 championship by just eight points, then the closest margin ever, over which driver?
Jimmie Johnson
Jimmie Johnson had won more races than anyone else that season. Busch's fifth place in the finale was just enough to keep him in front.
Q 13Kurt Busch drove the No. 97 car from 2000 to 2005, winning the 2004 title, for which team?
Roush Racing
Q 21In 2011 Kurt Busch moved to the renumbered No. 22 Dodge in a car swap with which Penske teammate?
Brad Keselowski
Brad Keselowski took over the flagship No. 2 that Busch had driven since 2006, and won the Cup championship in it the very next season.
Q 22In 2008 Kurt Busch pushed which teammate past the leaders on the final lap to win NASCAR's biggest race?
Ryan Newman
Ryan Newman's victory was the first in that race for team owner Roger Penske, long a serial winner of open-wheel racing's biggest event.
Q 23Kurt Busch took which Denver-based single-car team to its first playoff berth in 2013, driving the No. 78?
Furniture Row Racing
Roush Racing moved him up fast. After a single season in trucks, he skipped NASCAR's second-tier series altogether and went straight to Cup.
Q 14Which beverage brand sponsored Kurt Busch from 2012 and moved with him to Chip Ganassi Racing in 2019?
Monster Energy
Monster Energy's deal began in 2012, when it put Busch in a Nationwide Series car he shared with his brother Kyle.
Q 15Kurt Busch and brother Kyle lost the 2017 Race of Champions Nations' Cup final to which Formula One champion?
Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel won the Nations' Cup for Germany single-handed, driving every heat himself after teammate Pascal Wehrlein crashed out.
Q 16Kurt Busch scored his first Cup win in 2002 at which track, where he swept both races in 2003?
Bristol
Bristol became his best track: he held off a veteran on worn tires for that first win and had five victories there by 2006.
Q 17Kurt Busch's 2004 championship was the last Cup drivers' title for which manufacturer until 2018?
Ford
Ford did not crown another Cup champion until Joey Logano in 2018. By then Busch himself was back in the same make of car, 14 years after his title.
Q 18Kurt Busch drove the No. 41 car from 2014 to 2018, winning NASCAR's biggest race, for which team?
Stewart-Haas Racing
Stewart-Haas Racing added the No. 41 as a fourth car for him. Co-owner Gene Haas sponsored that first season himself, through his own company, Haas Automation.
Q 19Kurt Busch succeeded which teammate, the 2003 title winner, as NASCAR Cup Series champion?
Matt Kenseth
Matt Kenseth took the 2003 crown with a single race win, and the playoff NASCAR adopted a year later was nicknamed the Matt Kenseth Rule. Busch won the first title decided that way.
Q 20Kurt Busch finished runner-up in the 2001 Cup Rookie of the Year standings to which driver?
Kevin Harvick
Kevin Harvick won two races and finished ninth in points despite missing the season opener. Busch, who began the year in an unsponsored car, ended it 27th.
Furniture Row Racing was the first single-car team ever to reach NASCAR's playoff, and the only Cup team based west of the Mississippi.
Q 24Kurt Busch's 34th and final Cup win came in May 2022, driving the No. 45 Toyota, at which track?
Kansas Speedway
Kansas Speedway was the last of his 34 wins. Two months later a qualifying crash left him with a concussion that ended his full-time career.
Q 25Kurt Busch beat his brother Kyle by 0.076 seconds after an overtime restart at which track in 2019?
Kentucky Speedway
Kentucky Speedway saw the brothers' third one-two finish in a Cup race, and the first in which Kurt came out ahead.
Q 26Which teenage Xfinity Series driver made his Cup debut replacing a concussed Kurt Busch at Pocono in 2022?
Ty Gibbs
Ty Gibbs was announced as the stand-in on race day and finished 16th. He was still filling in weeks later, as Busch was not cleared to return that season.
Q 27Which Newell Rubbermaid brand became the main sponsor of Kurt Busch's No. 97 car during his 2001 rookie season?
Sharpie
Sharpie arrived partway through 2001, after Busch had started his first full Cup season with no sponsor on the car at all.
Q 28Kurt Busch made his first Cup starts in 2000 in a No. 97 car sponsored by which farm equipment maker?
John Deere
John Deere's car had been Chad Little's ride until Busch took it over at Dover that September. The sponsor left when the season ended.
Q 29Kurt Busch enrolled at the University of Arizona intending to earn a degree in which field?
Pharmacy
Pharmacy was the plan after he left Durango High School. Within a few years he was a NASCAR touring-series champion instead.
Q 30Kurt Busch began racing at age 14 at Pahrump Valley Speedway in which scaled-down class of machine?
Dwarf car
A Dwarf car came first, after his father introduced him to the sport. Busch moved on to IMCA Modifieds before landing a seat in NASCAR's regional touring ranks.