Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOX - Kurt Busch Interview

Episode Date: February 12, 2026

Kevin Harvick sits down with Kurt Busch for a wide-ranging and reflective conversation following Busch’s induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame on this episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour. Busch looks back on growing up in a racing family, the early career moments that helped launch him to the top level of the sport, and how key turning points shaped both his driving style and his mindset over time. He opens up about the lessons he learned along the way, what advice he would give his younger self, and how perspective changed as his career evolved. The interview also touches on Busch’s involvement in the FOX Sports documentary We’ve Lost Dale Earnhardt: 25 Years Later, reflecting on the lasting impact of Dale Earnhardt and how that era continues to influence NASCAR today. 0:00 - Intro 0:35 - Kurt Busch Joins The Show! 1:00 - NASCAR Hall of Fame 11:02 - Reflecting On The Past 14:28 - Growing Up In A Racing Family 20:38 - Adapting To The Next Gen Car 25:30 - Remembering Dale Earnhardt Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It still feels like those moments of winning the Daytona 500. I always look at the things that I screwed up, and I wouldn't change but a couple of them. I wish I had learning comprehensive. When I drove by, it was an eerie feeling, and then none of us knew what to do next. Welcome to Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour, presented by NASCAR on Fox. I'm Kevin Harvick, and today our guest is 2004 Cup champion, recently inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Kurt Bush. Kurt, thanks for taking the time to join us today.

Of course, Kev. Good to see you again, man. It's good talk to you. It's be fun. Yeah, yeah. Well, first, let's just talk about just the Hall of Fame. I mean, it is so weird to sit here and interview you, and we've both been out of the car for a couple, at least a couple of years now.

And now you've been inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. I mean, that just has to be surreal to look back. and think, what in the world just happened? I had a career. I'm in the Hall of Fame. How did all that feel when you had to give that speech and take in all those moments? It still feels like those moments of winning a championship

or winning the Daytona 500. You've been in both of those, Kevin. And it's like this high of here we are amongst all of our legends that we grew up racing with and sharing the track with. I still feel that vibe, and I'm very privileged and thankful and blessed to be this young. And you'll be there, Kevin. You'll be there a couple of years, man. Like it, you'll feel it.

And it's like, this was something we never even really sought out after to go and do. It's just the drive in our heart put us there. And that's what I'm seeing with every Hall of Famer that I've been with, but also go and research about. So it's, thank you, Cove. It's pretty cool. Yeah, well, it's, I mean, you had a outstanding career, obviously won a championship, won a ton of races, 34 races. And, you know, I think when you look at all those things that went together,

when you look back at your career and you start thinking through, I'm sure you thought through all this as you were going through this time of going into the Hall of Fame, what were the, you had different periods of your time. You got into the Cub car, you won a championship, you changed, teams a few times. What do you think that the, what was the most memorable period of time? I'm not going to pin it on one, one section of your career. What was your most impactful moment of time and which team do you think that was with? I mean, they all have good moments, but I mean, I look back at RCR compared to Stuart Haas and I'm like, you know what? I mean,

that time at RCR was pretty special because it started your career. Richard was such a mentor and how you did things. And it was just, it was very different than my time at Stuart Haas. So is there a section of time that you look at that, that you feel this was the most impactful or you enjoyed the most? I love it, Harf. Thanks, Kevin. You can't answer that one moment. Like, fans always go, what's your favorite win or what's your best moment? And I think if I can bridge off of what you were saying, it's about the people. And for you and Rodney Childers, right, Kevin Horvick, you and Rodney Childers were magic. And I believe my best magic was with Jimmy Fenning at Rauch. That's when it just seemed like you didn't even know that days existed. You didn't even

worry about waking up at 4 a.m. and you're going to the next track to test or do whatever. I think that's the easiest way to explain that tough of a question, if you know what I mean. I mean, you guys were rolling at S.HR. I was rolling at Roush. Everyone has that time. My brother at Gibbs, you know, Tony Stewart, Johnson at Harvard, at Hendrick. Like, everyone has those moments, but it's hard to really pinpoint the one, right? Yeah. Well, when you look at that time with Jimmy and you guys were, I mean, Roush was rolling at that time, too, and, and, and, and, and, you everything that they had going on. What was it like? It was four or five, it was four or five cars that they, that they had at that time. You had great teammates. What was that dynamic,

five cars? Yeah. So what was that dynamic like at Roush with your teammates and Jack and the way that everything was going during that time period? Yeah, that five, six years that I was at Roush, I don't know if that dynasty will ever be duplicated. I mean, you're talking Mark Martin. You're talking Jeff Burton. Those are the veterans. And then there's this young guy, Matt Kenseth, myself, Biffle. All of us could win a race each and every week.

All five of us made the playoffs in 2005. And we were feeding off each other because there was the respect. And Biffel and I, I thought, brought a lot of information sharing from our Chuck Series days together to the Cupside. Because Jeff Burton, Mark Martin, they were like, we're the old guys. This is our notebook. You kids wait your turn. And then me and Matt Kenseth, we were just vibing off of the arrow. Like the arrow side of things started to change early 2000s.

and then coil binding, all that. But here's where I can finish it, like with that question. We worked with each other six days out of the week, and then on the seventh day, we would go race each other. And it's like, here we go. You got teammates, but now it's your car number. Now it's for your crew, and now it's for those guys. What was Jack Roush like to work with?

I've never driven for Jack. obviously they built a dynamic there that was like that, right? Like it was try to build the cars the same. Everybody communicate. And what was Jack like as the leader when you were there? Things evolved. I mean, I'm 21, 22 years old, right? You were young at that time, Kevin.

And I feel like Jack was so enamored and immersed in the engines early on that that was his thing. And then as sponsorship and the money just was going through the roof, it seemed like what I did in the media was what he focused on with me. And I'm like, wait a minute, we got to fix the engines. It's called Doug Yates. I don't know. It was fun working with him, but he is definitely that military mentality of this is his structure, this team, and this is the way things are going to be. And as a young guy, learning all that, I was a bit overwhelmed. I could say that.

You know, I think it's interesting because I got to work with you for a couple years, and I viewed you as a great teammate because of the fact that I love intense people. I love people that are intense, but I really like people that understand the car, and you understood the car, and you understood the fact that you weren't going to drive like me, you weren't going to drive like. You had your own style, and you were always very meticulous. of, and one of the best notekeepers that you'll ever find in the notebook that you have is pretty awesome to be able to look back and study. And those are the kinds of things that

I really like as competitors and people that work at it hard. And you always did that. So, yeah. Yeah, yeah. But I think when you look at the team piece of it and you talk about Jack talking, he'd rather talk about the media stuff, and you're like, hey, let's, let's talk about the motors. You're kind of misinterpreting what I, what I'm saying here, what do you think the biggest misinterpret of the perception that the fans had from some of those moments? Because I view you as a competitor, and I see the work that goes in behind that. And I think some of that kind of gets overshadowed by, and I did it myself, jumping over cars or saying dumb stuff on TV or whatever it was.

I didn't know how long our segment was going to be, yeah. We could compare stories. What do you think the fans didn't fully understand about you? Well, it's kind of a couple different things. And one of them, I'll start with this. Ray Evertonham, it's a driver's meeting, I don't know, call it 2002, 2003. And he taps me on my shoulder. And I'm like, oh, gosh, this is Ray. Mr. Evertonham.

And he goes, Kurt, you got to keep your mouth shut. You cannot talk about your engine failures. cannot bash your crew. This is, you're going to undermine yourself. I'm like, well, Ray. Yes, sir, understood. But I wanted to go into the explanation of what was this or what was that. And patience, experience, being more of a professional, right, Kev.

For us, we were thrown into a spotlight. I could never even imagine you with Dale Senior's death. and how you were just boom, right from trucks, Xfinity, boom. Now, here we go in a cup. Here you go. It's a lot. And so to the fans, I think I went through three generations of fans. I felt like I was beating some of the race fans' favorites when I first showed up.

I was brash. It was raw. But it was like, I'm beating them, right? And then my group of fans through the 2000s, early teens, and then the second half of my career with Monster Energy. I had an 8-year-old fan come up to me at Supercross last weekend go, can I get an autograph? It's so cool just to have gone through it all.

But again, at the beginning, it's that tenacity. It's that push. It's that brashness. It's what got me there. It's what got you there. And it's what got a lot of guys there. But the professionalism side was something I had to work on. So if you go back now, and this is my favorite question that I get asked, and if you could go back now and say, all right, 21-year-old Kurt Busch, this is what I would do different as you go through.

What are a couple of the things that you look back and say, man, I wish that would be different? And I always look at the things that I screwed up as moments that really pushed me forward to understand what was happening. So I felt like they were learning, and I wouldn't change but a couple of them. but there's always a couple of them. You had learning comprehension skills? I wish I had learning comprehension skills. So what would you tell 21-year-old Kurt Busch? You know, the gas pedal is important.

It makes you go faster. The brake pedal is there for convenience, but you need to know when to use it. And then there's that red radio button or whatever button that is now. I just use the gas. the break and the radio button more appropriately. Yeah.

Yeah. You know, the radio button, the radio button was one of my worst enemies as well. When you look back, when you look back, when you look back at your career, there's those key moments. And, you know, it's kind of like those moments that you get this break and you're like, man, I mean, we all know about the cup stuff. What are, what do you think before Cup? What do you think that the key moments were those one or two breaks along the way that you were able to get, that were able to propel you to the next level when you were on the verge of thinking it might be done? You know, it's a family atmosphere of racing. This all started out as a hobby for me.

I was just racing me and my dad. You know, we were just having fun as father and son. And we couldn't even afford, you know, tires to put on a late model. or an engine to compete at the top level of the local track. And so it was just fun. And working with him and he taught me everything about cars and meeting people and shaking hands and saying thank you. And I think the key thing was Star Nursery,

the racing group, the Southwest Tour car in Vegas, that opportunity came up. And I wasn't ready, though. I wasn't even ready for Southwest Tour stuff. And then next thing, you know, I'm in trucks. It's like, I'm not even ready for trucks. Everything moves so quick. From 1994 to 2000, that's the first ever time I race something.

And now I'm in a cup car at Dover. And Dale Sr. comes walking by. He goes, son, I never think you were going to lift going to turn one qualifying. I was trying to make the show. I had to go hard. it went so quick. But yet the break from just Star Nursery and Jack Roush's group, Max Jones, Matt Chambers, that group from Livonia, Michigan with the trucks, that's when I felt that big break.

Like you got a big break with the Spears family, right? And running that 75 truck after Hornaday. I feel like that's kind of the same moment, right? Yeah. Well, I think it's interesting because, you know, it's, you know, it's, you know, You never know if you're ready. And I remember my dad telling me, he's like, well, you never know if you're ready until you go do it. You just got to jump in the fire and see what happens.

And luckily, luckily it worked out, you know, for us. But you mentioned your dad. And, you know, your brother, Kyle, obviously, you guys grew up racing together. What was that when Kyle started racing and you were racing together? What was the dynamic like with the three of you? I mean, one on one, I know with Keelan, one on one is intense. But dad trying to point both of you in that direction, what was that like as a kid? All right.

We only raised, the three of us, only raised maybe two or three times. My dad, he had a bad accident in a legend's car. Actually, he broke his neck, his second vertebrae. And like, he had, it was rough in 1997. Kyle and I are six years apart. So if I'm 18 winning a Southwest Tour race in Vegas, Bakersfield, my brother's 12, barely even starting a legend car. So we didn't race against each other much,

but it was the cool aspect of the mentor, dad, myself in the middle, and then here's Kyle. And so Kyle got the beneficiary of like my experience, my dad's experience, and also the vision of, wow, if my brother's actually doing okay in a late model, it's Little Brother syndrome. He's going to do better than me, of course, on day one. But it was fun to go through the whole dynamic.

And I felt like the timeline of things, if I maybe made it to a late model, maybe Kyle could get to Southwest Tour, maybe a race against Tornaday or race against Corell, and I don't know. I was just doing it as fun. And for my brother, I think he saw everything I was doing. And he's like, this is going to be life.

Yeah. Well, it's interesting now, too. And this is totally off subject of what we're talking about. But I want to get your perspective on it because I think you get to see it. You get to watch Kyle and Brexton. You know, we, Tony hates, you know, the young guys coming into the series. where do you think the whole development system has changed as far as when we started, because I got the cup car for the first time when I was 25. Now, you know, Conner's Zillich is 19.

We've seen Ty Gibbs at 18. How do you think the development system has changed? Because you did it, I mean, you did it fairly quick with Rouse. Your brother obviously did it really quick, the same way. So explain your thought process in what you see on the development. system of drivers now compared to when we started? That's a loaded question. It's a great question. That's why you have a solid podcast, and I always listen in, and it's like it's, it's meaty and it's fruitful here.

If I can explain it this way of being a 90s kid as a teenager, watching NASCAR just do this, like, you know, NASCAR goes to the brickyard, you know, like Jeff Gordon wins the first ever brickyard and he's a West Coast guy from Vallejo and went to Indy and ran sprint car stuff. It opened the door for two things, young guys and West Coast guys. Jeff Gorton, really, to me, is our savior that kind of opened things up in a sense for that. And then as TV evolved, I mean, you were at the Tucson Winter Heat, ESPN helped all of that, West Coast group get recognized. That's when Ron Hornaday is getting phone calls from Senior and things evolved for the West Coast Group. And it was more of second now, second phase in the

2000s. To me, NASCAR was an arms race. You were the pick for RCR. Myself, Kenseth, were the picks for Roush. Joe Gibbs had Tony Stewart. You know, Rick Hendrick already had Gordon, but then there's this guy named Jimmy Johnson, right? It was an arms race of pushing hard and finding talent from wherever because the sponsor dollars were there. The teams had the funding. And if I can just now go to the final chapter, and maybe we'll circle back around on this conversation, that somewhat of the lawsuit was about with 2311, front row and NASCAR on how, having the proper funding to be able to have that foundation to create an environment for winning.

We all shouldn't be this focused and enamored on how we find sponsors. I mean, these kids these days with social media, how hard they got to push what they're doing. I mean, bless them, they're pushing. You've got to do way more than what we did back then. But I'm proud of the way the systems work for the kids to push to get there. but it still is like how do you separate yourself from the rest of the group and i think that's what i was able to do you were able to do it and a few others but the system now it's still we just need need to find that talent and just go like that's kid i want and i think that's what connor zillage

is is that choice right now when you you keep spurring my thoughts on on things that that that you say and And I, you know, the interesting part that we talk about a lot on this show is the jump from to the next gen car. You got to drive it. What were the biggest challenges for you when you went from the Gen 6 to Gen 7 car to try to get adapted to this new style car? Because it's, you talk about the development, but it never quits. You evolve or die is, is the thing that I always used to tell our guys on our team. What were the things that you had to adapt to in the next-gen car that were the hardest for you? You know, I volunteered as much as I could to test the car as a plus 40-year-old seeing, you know, the twilight of my career and wanting to continue to pursue it and to drive and to win, this car is like, all right, what's this about?

I think the key thing is all that rear weight and the way the inertia of the car with independent rear suspension moves, it wasn't our normal feel from the Gen 6 car. And to quickly simplify it is the front of the next gen car, you've got to keep a slight tightness to it or a push. And that's the way you drove, right? That's right.

Yeah. And I was a guy more so on the rear. And so that's where it changes different guys' driving styles. And if you don't adapt, then you're not going to have the success that you want. But I really wanted to conquer the car. I gave myself that project. And to sign with 2311 at the end of my career, I was like, I got this. My MJ's asking me to do this.

Denny's asking me, Toyota, Monster. And I wanted to leave the car in a good spot for whoever took over. And so to win at Kansas, that was like, yeah, all right, last checkbox, got it done. Well, you talk about the 2311 stuff. And as you look at the wreck at Pocono and having to go through all the situations that you went through, what was that time like for you? Because I feel like now you've kind of adjusted to being retired and out of the car and comfortable with it. and to have it all snatched out from underneath you all the sudden and not be able to go out

and how you deserve to go out, what was that like for you and how did you deal with all that? Because it just, you know, it's, when you've had a career like you have had and you, and it just ends like that, it had to be just a difficult situation to deal with. For me, I was going for pole at Pocono in my final run in a cup car. And who knows, might come back, whatever may be. But for me, it's like a Hollywood-type script of the things I've been through, the highs, the lows. And literally, Kevin, I was going for pole.

And she stepped out. I was coming to the green. And afterwards, the engineer said, yeah, you had six miles per hour extra. Coming through three to take the green. Six miles per hour is pretty damn good, right? You get caught up in sometimes the data versus the feel of the car, and maybe that's what a plus 40-year-old wasn't supposed to be doing. And so to go out like that, I mean, fine.

I'm fine with it. I'm complacent to help. And what the team did for me, what NASCAR and the sport did for me, and for Monster Energy to stand by and, like, what do you need? How can we help? that's where you feel the family of it, you know, and the total sport comes back and goes, you know what, you gave so much,

you don't owe anything to anybody. And so that's fine. It's the way it went. I'm able to go wherever in the world, people give me a hard card for a rally race or for, you know, the Dakara, this, that, wherever. It's fun to have the notoriety within the NASCAR world and the global motorsports world.

and that's where I found my next step after I wasn't going to be a full-time cup guy. Well, I'm happy that you're in a good spot to, we all have to live the second half of our life. And you think about how great all this is, but when it's not there on a weekly basis and you've got to change everything that you do, I've been dealing with it for the last two years, it's a drastic change in how you think the things you do, the places you go. Yeah, it's good. You'll be fine. I can help coach you, you know, that's fine. Just go grab a milkshake, you know, and just sit down for lunch and just reminisce. Like even the other day, friends were coming up to me and talking about different stories and things. And I said, you know what?

It's easy now because there's more time and there's the reflection now with the Hall of Fame. And the key thing is I'm very blessed again. And you'll be there soon. To be this young and to have the Hall of Fame honor, I get to embrace it and be in that. vibe for much longer for the rest of my life versus some of the others. So it's, I'm in a good spot. It's good. Good. Well, you're also in this, we've lost Dale Earnhardt documentary that comes out February 12th after the Dules. It's going to be on, on Fox. It'll re-air on FS1 or a Fox Fox, Fox One app. Tell me about, tell me about being in this and reflecting back on just a time that was

pretty dark for everybody in our sport. I mean, you're the toughest guy to give an answer to because of how close you were to all this, right? I still remember I had some damage with our car. I think we were a lap down 2001, Daytona 500, and spotter saying, wreck up ahead, wreck up ahead, slow down, slow down, slow down, slow down. and this is coming to take the checker. And when I drove through turn four and saw the oil streaks, the smoke,

and the cars, you know, a black car and a yellow car kind of piled up on the inside, when I drove by of it, it was an eerie feeling. It really was. And then none of us knew what to do next. Right, Kat, I'm sure you were there

with the Xfinity race, the day before the Bush race. none of us knew where we're going or what we were doing. And it was just one of those surreal moments in life. When you look at that moment from a driver's perspective, you were driving. Obviously, I was racing in the Bush series, not in-cup until the next week with a lot of things that had changed. How do you think that changed the driver's mentality the next weekend at the racetrack? Because there's been a lot of things changed since then that have been very,

really positive for the sport from a safety side. But what was the difference from the thought process the next week when we went to the racetrack? Because our biggest never thought that that would ever happen to, it might happen to somebody else, but it should never happen to Dale Earnhardt. That driver mentality, how do you think that affected the garage over the next period of time? Well, I mean, Rockingham, I think the race was even rained out or delayed to Monday. It was.

That's right. Right. Now you have this aura of there's still a dark cloud over everything. And I feel like even the drivers, we raced each other with just even more of a different bubble. Or like, this is your space. Okay, you go ahead, do this. It was very, very different. And yes, as a rookie, I still respected what the hell was going on, right?

I was just blown away by it all. And it's like, what are we supposed to be doing next? And it took the next week. And then you won at Atlanta. Was that the third race? Third race, yeah. Yep. Yep.

And it's like, there's just this aura, right, of things going on around us that we could, it's hard to explain. But you were even closer to it than I was. Yeah. And one thing that I think that the, you know, we hear a lot of talk about the sport, but the amount of attention and people and things that were happening around our races then were mind-blowing. Is that, did you feel that same way? Yeah, it, like, the amount of credentials and people and just like the swarm around us,

everything we did had a significance of, am I doing it right? Am I doing it wrong? Yeah, you're right. The popularity, the craziness, and chaos, it was through the roof for easily the next, what, five, six, seven years. Yeah. Well, I can't wait to watch it. and like I say, it releases on February 12th after the duel.

So everybody tune in. I got two questions left. Okay, all right. All right. What is your hobby now? What do you like to do? You know, buddy of mine from back in the 90s when I was before teenager time, RC cars, he's like, dude, we got to go do this.

And there was a vintage race in Vegas. 500 people show up. I made the A-Main in two of my classes. I was like, all right. So now, just doing some R.C. car stuff. I'm doing some real estate, East Coast, West Coast. Still tied in with 2311, but at a bird's eye view. And then enjoying things in life with travel and calling Monster, like, hey,

what do you guys got going on with this thing in Europe? What's going on here? Monster will call me. Hey, we need you to show up and do an appearance with Landon Norris. promoting the new drink in in Austin. I think I'm able to be able to enjoy it all, but still have the connections with everything to do A through Z. Similar to you in any one.

Time out. Are you selling real estate? I'm just dabbling and stuff. Don't worry about it. Okay. All right. All right. I was like,

okay, hold on a second. I didn't know if you'd take my license or anything to like be a realtor, but I mean, I got some heavy notebooks there. Okay. Well, that's good. All right, last question.

It's a tough one. What was your first car that you drove on the road? First car, 1964 Volkswagen Bug. I could have a picture of it. This is on the spot. I don't have a picture. So me and my dad, we bought it for $500 on a Friday night. My dad's like, this is the car you need, son.

And my dad says, how much money are you got? I got $75, I think. He says, all right, so you will work off the rest of this car. and the time that you put into it with $3 an hour. We go to pick it up Saturday morning. Some kids vandalized this neighborhood where we bought the car, and they turned this Volkswagen Bug. It's upside down.

We had a lot of roof damage that we had to fix. But I still have it to this day. In 1964, Volkswagen Bug, stock 40-horse engine. And my dad wouldn't let me upgrade anything on the engine because he thought that that would keep me out of getting tickets. Well, probably a smart decision. That's why we all, you know, at some point, listen to our parents here and there, but that was definitely a good decision. Probably kept you out of a lot of trouble.

But I can't think we listen to our parents with cars, but we didn't listen to anything else after that, right? Probably fair. Well, congratulations on the Hall of Fame. We look forward to the documentary and congratulations on everything. that you've done in your career. And thank you for what you continue to do for our sport and racing. I hope you're around as much as you are for a long time. So thanks for taking the time today and look forward to seeing you at the track, Kurt. I appreciate it, Keff. Those are kind words. And I know we've had some good fun, had some good rivalry. We're teammates. We pushed each other to be

better. And that's what I try to do with our next generation of kids, is to push them to be better. and show them that if they can put that work ethic in, like the group that did it before us, we've done it, now they can do it, and the sport will be in good hands afterwards.