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NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers: Brotherly Love

DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA - JANUARY 12: Kurt Busch, driver of the #45 23XI Racing Toyota looks on in the garage during the NASCAR Next Gen Test at Daytona International Speedway on January 12, 2022 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)

NASCAR is celebrating its 75th anniversary all throughout the 2023 season.

In 1998, NASCAR had a panel select a list of its 50 greatest drivers for its golden anniversary.

Likewise, we at Frontstretch decided to put together our own list of the 75 greatest NASCAR drivers in honor of this year’s milestone. Seventeen of our writers weighed in to pick the 75 drivers, and we’ll be releasing four to seven drivers from that list every weekday for the next three weeks.

Similar to the one in 1998, this list is not a ranking of the top-75 drivers. Instead, we’ve broken the list down into categories, with a new category released each day (see the full list below). Within those categories, the drivers are listed in alphabetical order.

We’ve already discussed some of NASCAR’s great offspring of fellow legends. This time, let’s go down the rabbit hole of drivers who shared parents, instead.

Kurt Busch

Few drivers in NASCAR history have had a more whirlwind, rollercoaster career journey than Kurt Busch.

The elder Busch brother burst onto the scene with Roush Racing, running a full-time season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2000 and winning four races while finishing runner-up in points. He impressed owner Jack Roush enough to get a promotion all the way to the NASCAR Cup Series in 2001.

Following an underwhelming rookie season with only six top 10s in 2001, Busch experienced a sophomore surge with four wins, 12 top fives and 20 top 10s the next year, placing third in points. He went on to win at least three races in each of the next three seasons in the No. 97 Ford, capturing his lone Cup championship in 2004.

After a falling out with Roush at the end of 2005, Busch drove for Team Penske
from 2006-2011, all but one of those years in the iconic No. 2 Ford. While his Penske
stint was not as successful as his time with Roush, Busch still secured 10 wins in six seasons, visiting victory lane at least once in each of those seasons and a best points finish of fourth in 2009.

After Penske, Busch endured back-to-back winless seasons with underfunded teams, first in 2012 with Phoenix Racing and then in 2013 with Furniture Row Racing. However, Busch did get 11 top fives and 16 top 10s in 2013, which was enough to catch the eye of Gene Haas for a ride with Stewart-Haas Racing in the No. 41 car.

At SHR, he went through a career renaissance, winning at least one race and placing in the top 15 in points every year from…

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