CHARLOTTE, N.C. — For most of his driving career, Kurt Busch had a “tough guy” persona on and off the race track.
The 47-year-old Las Vegas native showed a softer side during his NASCAR Hall of Fame induction speech Friday night as he paused to honor former Roush Racing teammate Greg Biffle, who died in a plane crash along with his wife, two children and three others on Dec. 18 in Statesville.
“I can’t put the words together, but you and I were like peanut butter and jelly when we raced trucks together,” Busch said, addressing the late Biffle. “And you were instrumental in helping me win a Cup championship in 2004.
“You will always be the Biff. Everyone be like Biff.”
Busch was inducted along with fellow drivers Harry Gant and Ray Hendrick.
Busch, who won the title the first year the Cup Series had a playoff format of any type, was selected in his first year of eligibility by the NASCAR Hall of Fame Voting Panel last May.
Busch got his start driving dwarf cars in his home state of Nevada and made the fast acceleration to the Cup Series after bypassing NASCAR’s second-tier national circuit because of his talent as a driver. He did later run some races on that second-tier circuit, as well as in the Truck Series, NASCAR’s other national circuit.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” Busch said. “It’s a journey that this blue-collar kid from Vegas never expected. All of these trips down memory lane talking with everyone and the different teams I was with, all the great racers that I raced against, it’s been an amazing journey.”
His younger brother Kyle Busch presented him for induction Friday, saying he was immensely proud.
“This award is about resilience and heart, and Kurt earned every bit of it,” said Kyle, a two-time Cup Series champion who drives for Richard Childress Racing.
Nicknamed “The Outlaw,” Kurt Busch was known for his fiery temper and often found himself at the center of controversy.
He won his only Cup Series season title at age 26 in his fourth year on the circuit. It was the first title determined with the 10-race “Chase for the Championship” format, and it came in dramatic fashion.
In the season finale at Florida’s Homestead-Miami Speedway, Busch’s right front tire broke loose from his No. 97 Roush Racing Ford and rolled to the right of the pit wall as he steered to the left of the barrier. He managed to finish fifth and secured the title.
“There was this weird vibration happening with the right front,” Busch said in a video he posted on social media before his induction. “So I was coming down on the access road, and it’s starting to vibrate bad like it’s coming apart. Something’s going down.
“It broke right there. I know I’m wrecking, and I’m like, ‘My day’s done.’ Something took my left foot off the brake pedal to allow that left front tire just to gain a little bit of turn and to stay away from the barrels and the embarrassment of running into the end of the pit wall.”
Busch won 43 races across NASCAR’s three national series: 34 in the Cup Series, five on the second-tier circuit and four in the third-tier Truck Series. His biggest victories included the 2017 Daytona 500, and he retired in 2023 after sustaining a concussion from a crash at Pennsylvania’s Pocono Raceway.
Gant, known as “The Bandit,” joined Busch as a Modern Era selection in his seventh year of eligibility.
“I was hoping to get in here sooner or later,” joked the 86-year-old Taylorsville native, who raced into his 50s.
He totaled 18 victories in Cup Series competition, with five of them — including four straight wins at Darlington, Richmond, Dover and Martinsville in 1991 — coming after he turned 51.
“I have been able to take a car and make it win,” Gant said. “I have had several cars. To make a car that becomes a winner, it’s like a person — it becomes your best friend then. Not your wife, but your best friend.”
Gant also won 21 races on NASCAR’s second-tier national circuit, and he captured the IROC Series title in 1985, the same year he finished second to fellow Hall of Fame driver Darrell Waltrip in the inaugural NASCAR All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Hendrick, known as “Mr. Modified,” accumulated more than 700 victories in modified and late model sportsman racing from 1950 through 1988. A native of Richmond, Virginia, he was chosen from a group of five Pioneer Ballot nominees.
Although he never won a modified championship, Hendrick finished in the top 10 nine times from 1960-69.
“He was almost unbeatable on short tracks,” said Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick, who is unrelated to Ray but worked on his cars as a teenager.
Hendrick’s son Ronnie accepted the award for his father, who was 61 when he died in 1990.
“If my dad was here tonight, he would be so honored to be recognized with so many other great drivers,” Ronnie said.
Track promoter Humpy Wheeler was honored with the Landmark Award for contributions to the sport.
The longtime president and general manager of Charlotte Motor Speedway, Wheeler became known for his over-the-top promotional events, including a staged battle in the infield with giant “Robosaurus” breathing fire and devouring cars as entertainment building up to the start of races.
Speedway Motorsports CEO Marcus Smith called him “the P.T. Barnum of motorsports.”
Wheeler died last August at age 86.
Earlier in the week, NASCAR presented team owner and motorsports innovator Jack Roush with the Bill France Award of Excellence, making him the first two-time winner of what’s considered the sport’s most prestigious award. He was recognized for his decades-long impact on stock-car racing and his commitment to competition, innovation and leadership.
He first won the award in 2001.
“For decades, Jack Roush has helped move NASCAR forward while staying true to what makes the sport special,” NASCAR chairman and CEO Jim France said. “He has built championship-caliber teams and developed generations of drivers and leaders.”