Charlotte, NC – For a brief anxious moment on Tuesday afternoon, Kurt Busch said he felt like he was back behind the wheel. The butterflies of the stomach which would arise before the green flag rushed back for the 46 -year -old man, who was seated in front and in the center of the Nascar Hall of Fame while the names were read for the newly elected class of 2026.
“I had the impression that it was the race mode,” said Busch, admitting these nerves. “I had to put the emotional stones.”
The Busch name was the last to be called Tuesday, introducing it into the stock of the stock car with the other new members Harry Gant and Ray Hendrick alongside the recipient of the Landmark Award Humpy Wheeler. When the video editing of his career strengths flashed in front of him, Busch said that the flood of emotions has mixed the past, the present and the future all together.
Related: 2026 class announced | Photos: Voting day scenes
The past, he admitted, was dotted by raw spots in his life and marked by a rapid rise in the upper ranks of sport. His future now includes a celebration with his colleagues to come next January.
“For me, as a blue collar of Vegas, I would never have imagined this,” said Busch. “We were a family where it was just a hobby. It’s like a hobby to run, you know. It was just fun to go on the track as a father and son. My father had his car, and he helped me build mine, and you meet this guy or you meet this sponsor where you tell this person, and I manage a legend 1999. September 2000, I am in the car of Jack Roush in Dover.
“There was no model. There was not the scale that you see many children these days which have a system where it is “we are going to do that, we will do that”. Many mine were in the right place at the right time, and the universe smiled at me.
Busch had been in the mood thoughtful in the days before Tuesday voting, using his social networks to share the ups and downs of almost three decades in the race. Busch driving days at the Cup series ended in the summer of 2022 when an injury in an accident during the qualification at Pocono Raceway short-circuited his career.
This career was marked by brilliant highs – 34 serial victories, the 2004 championship and a victory for Daytona 500 in 2017. But this long term also included low -dramatic lows that rocked the feathers of team owners, race leaders and the media – many of whom were in the voting room. After Tuesday’s announcement, Busch offered a thank you note, particularly expressing its appreciation to the owners of cars who tried their luck, “even after putting my toe a few times.”
“I think the late Jim Hunter told me best once when I was in trouble,” recalls Busch, distinguishing the longtime representative from Nascar Communications and a former laureate of the Landmark Prize. “He said,” I son, you can have as many problems as you wish because you have as much talent to expel these holes, you continue to put yourself. So it took a lot of lessons, but it was a fun announcement, and I can’t wait to tell more stories to everyone on what this sport has mean for me and how I will always be there. “”
There was a long line of sympathizers for Busch in the large NHOF room. The former teammate and comrade nominated Greg Biffle was among the first to give him an embrace, followed by greetings of the class of Ricky Rudd of 2025 and the winner of Landmark. The seven -time champion of the Jimmie Johnson Cup (2024 class) waited to give his own special greeting.
Busch and Johnson had a lot of overlapping in their major leagues careers, which meant a handful of remarkable runs given their trend in narrow side races at the front of the peloton. According to these competitive mutuals have developed a level of mutual respect, the one who, according to Johnson, has increased in recent years.
“We have certainly had strong feelings opposed to each other at different times, but it’s wild, guy,” Johnson told Nascar.com. “You have put the helmet and become a different person in a way, and he and I are always very well heard outside the car, and certainly in the past five, eight years, I do not know, our relationship has gone to new levels. With his injury, the role he plays now. Last short time and happy to see him enter.
“For me, finally from my seat on the bus, an incredible career. He was unfortunately not in his words, but he remained engaged, he found a new goal, then this moment and lived it and knowing how he will feel in January after leaving this stage, he may not have exceeded this dream that he had a child.”
For his part, Busch said he was at peace with the end of his career, driving hard for pole position and always performing near his peak as a veteran of the highest level of sport. He said Pocono officials invited him to return as a dignitary for the race weekend next month, which would mark his first trip to the 2.5-thousand track since his accident.
But Busch said that as a fame of fame, he planned to remain active in the promotion of sport, consultation with teams and the ambassador service. “There is no way to get away,” said Busch.
That this means a potential return to competition fires, perhaps at the recreational level, Busch has not excluded the possibility.
“We will see. We will see. I see my nephew tearing the ground tracks,” said Busch, referring to the son of brother Kyle Busch, Brexton. “I think his first legendary race is this Thursday, at Hickory Motor Speedway. I will be there. He’s going to be him to bring me behind the wheel. ”
