Kurt Busch will be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame next January. He\u2019s definitely deserving of it, having won the 2004 NASCAR Cup championship and 34 Cup races before his career was cut short due to a serious concussion. Busch had a lot of great moments in his NASCAR career, and some not so great moments, including several run-ins with reporters.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s one instance that he particularly regrets, a hot mic incident with TV reporter Jamie Little that still bothers Busch today. He relayed this in a recent episode of the SpakeUp Podcast with Shannon Spake.<\/p>\n
It was in 2011 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Busch\u2019s car did not pass pre-race inspection. He was heading across the track, from Turn 1 to Turn 4 (where tech inspection was located) and Little intercepted him, asking if he was willing to talk.<\/p>\n
Busch and Little are good friends and both are from Las Vegas. But Busch was in no mood to talk that day and, unfortunately, his verbiage was picked up live.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know that (my car didn\u2019t pass tech), I\u2019m doing driver intros, I\u2019m doing a lap around in the truck, taking a couple pictures by the pit box with our fans, with our sponsors,\u201d Busch said. \u201cAnd I go out to find my car on the grid and it\u2019s not there. I\u2019m like, \u2018Where\u2019s my f***ing car?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cSo the cameras are coming at me and I\u2019m like, \u2018Oh I know they\u2019re coming to me and I\u2019m going to just beeline to go find my car\u2026 It\u2019s like a couple minutes and the National Anthem\u2019s going to play. I\u2019m like, \u2018Not right now, Jamie, I\u2019ve got to go find my f***ing car.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Little responded by asking, \u201cAre you okay with asking a question?\u201d To which Busch promptly said, \u201cWhy the f*** do you think I\u2019d be okay? I\u2019ve got to go get in my car. NASCAR told me I\u2019ve got to get in my car.\u201d<\/p>\n
That moment opened Pandora\u2019s Box, in a way, with a number of officials on other teams giving their take on what just happened. Billy O\u2019Shea, spotter for Kevin Harvick, said, \u201cKeep an eye on the 22 (Busch). He\u2019s in full meltdown mode.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeff Dickerson (now co-owner of Spire Motorsports, but back then the spotter for Jeff Gordon) went, \u201c22 just went ape-s**t. I guess he went crazy sometime here in the last few minutes.\u201d Kevin Hamlin, spotter for Clint Bowyer, said, \u201cHey Clint, word is the driver of the 22 had a slight meltdown in driver intros today.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t really cussing at Jamie, I was just trying to find my f***ing car,\u201d Busch said<\/a>.<\/p>\n Busch had run-ins with other media<\/p>\n