Busch returning to Dover, site of Cup Series debut

Kurt Busch made his Cup Series debut on Sept. 24, 2000, at Dover during a doubleheader weekend that saw him win his only Truck Series start at The Monster Mile.

"That was a pretty cool weekend for a 22-year-old kid, there at Dover in 2000," Busch said. "I was running for the Truck Series rookie of the year and was third in the overall points when I got the call to drive the 97 car."

In the Truck Series, Busch finished second in points in 2000. He won four races -- Milwaukee, Loudon, Dover and Fontana -- with 13 top-five finishes and 16 top-10s in 24 starts.

"My career was moving so fast back then," he said. "Only 11 months before that, I was just a successful young short-tracker living in Las Vegas and still holding down a job with the water department. We'd won the championship in the NASCAR Southwest Series in '99 and I was the youngest driver to ever win the title. We got the call to drive the No. 99 truck and I had run only 20 races or so [21] when I was put in the 97 Cup ride."

Busch took over the No. 97 Ford from Chad Little at Dover -- with former crew chief-turned-FOX Sports broadcaster Jeff Hammond -- and started seven of the final eight races in 2000, with a best finish of 13th at Charlotte.

"I can remember reading a headline back then that said, 'Busch's Career Skyrocketing Into the Stratosphere,' " he said. "That pretty much said it all. I'd gone from being a big fish in a little pond on the short tracks to a Truck Series race winner and leading rookie in only a matter of a few months. Then I was straight into the Cup ride, without ever even running a single Busch Series race."

Busch began his Cup debut with a 10th-place qualifying run. He finished 18th, two laps down to race winner Tony Stewart.

"That was a special weekend at Dover, for sure," Busch said. "We'd already had the Cup car there testing it a week earlier and had turned in some really fast laps. That Friday, before we won the Truck Series race, we qualified the Cup car in the 10th spot.

"I remember really looking forward to the Saturday morning practice, but it never happened because a storm came through the area. We got an extra hour of practice that afternoon after the Grand National race was over and got her dialed in the best we could. At least we thought we did.

"It had been overcast all during Saturday's practice and was still that way when Sunday's race started. The car started out really loose, and we adjusted to tighten it up. Then the sun broke through the clouds and we had a super tight racecar. We ran the last 125 laps under the green and I really had my hands full. We held on, kept her out of the wall and finished 18th. We accomplished all our goals there that weekend."