Kyle Busch Remembered: Rowdy’s most unforgettable moments at Richmond

We continue our ‘Kyle Busch Remembered’ series as NASCAR takes on Richmond Raceway. Busch earned 12 victories between the Cup and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series at the Virginia short track.

Busch won a total of 234 races between Cup, O’Reilly, and Trucks in his NASCAR career, more than any other driver in history. He tragically passed away unexpectedly, just days after his final win at the age of 41.

Since then, we’ve been highlighting his most impressive, memorable, or even infamous moments at whatever track is up next on the NASCAR Cup schedule.

We’ve already covered Atlanta, Sonoma, Nashville, Michigan, Pocono, Chicagoland,and Indianapolis, which you can find by clicking the names of each track as mentioned. Now, here’s a look back at Rowdy’s most unforgettable moments at Richmond, where he made sure it lived up to its nickname as the ‘Action Track’….

2004 NASCAR O’Reilly: Winning from pole in first-ever win

Busch was a rookie driver in the secondary level of NASCAR in 2004, and he arrived on the scene in a big way. His first win was the just beginning of a career of dominance, as the teenager led 236 of 250 laps that night to win at Richmond. He even managed to hold off a charging Greg Biffle on a late-race restart. This was Busch’s first checkered flag in any of the three national levels, going on to win a record 234 over the next 22 years.

2008 NASCAR Cup: Becoming the villain as he wrecks Dale Jr.

This was the night KB truly became the villain in the eyes of many fans. While battling Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the race win, the two made contact, and Earnhardt went spinning. Busch didn’t even win the race either, as Clint Bowyer went on to snatch victory. Unsurprisingly, Junior Nation was not pleased with Busch after that race. “Whether it’s fair or not, he’s going to need some security,” Dale Jr. famously said in his post-race interview. Busch also had to deal with angry crew members from the Earnhardt team, and in the next Richmond race, Earnhardt sent Busch spinning in what was clearly payback. This clash between KB and Dale Jr. is still talked about to this day, and remains one of the more iconic moments in Richmond NASCAR history.

2008 NASCAR O’Reilly: Clashing with Steven Wallace and ready to settle the score

The 2008 Richmond race weekend was very eventful for KB. The day before his explosive run-in with Dale Jr., Busch had another incident involving Steven Wallace — son of NASCAR Hall of Famer, Rusty Wallace. On the final lap, Wallace got into the back of Busch and nearly wrecked him for third place. Busch fought back and reclaimed the position. After the race, Wallace hit Busch on the cool-down lap and even wrecked another car in the process. He and KB then had a heated discussion on pit road where Wallace actually grabbed Busch by the helmet. “I basically told him if you mess with the bull, you’re gonna get the horns,” said Busch afterwards. “And then he wanted to grab my helmet, which is pretty childish — if he wants to play those games, he’s gonna get hurt.” Oh, and did we mention this all happened on Busch’s 23rd birthday?

2014 NASCAR O’Reilly: Leading every single lap

Kyle Busch, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

In September of 2014, Busch scored his most dominant Richmond win of them all. Even with six cautions interrupting the race, he led every single one of the 250 laps run that day. Busch started from pole in the No. 54 JGR Toyota, and ended up winning the race by 1.3 seconds over Chase Elliott.

2018 NASCAR Cup: From the very back to Victory Lane

Busch’s 50th career Cup win was a special one. He actually started from the very back of field due to an unapproved adjustment, and after battling through the pack for nearly 300 laps, he took control of the for the first time in the final quarter of the event. He led 79 of the final 100 laps, earning a hugely impressive win.

2021 NASCAR Truck: The closest he ever got to a Richmond Truck win

While dominant at Richmond, Busch never did get a Truck win at the Virginia short track. He ran there twice at the very beginning of his career, but his only real shot at the win came when he returned in a KBM truck in 2021. He was all over the back of John-Hunter Nemechek on the final lap, but it would have been ill-advised to hit him as he owned that truck too. Busch finished a very close second in a 1-2 finish for Kyle Busch Motorsports, and it was nearly a 1-2-3 with Chandler Smith slipping to fourth at the very end.

Kyle Busch Richmond NASCAR Stats

NASCAR CUP: 39 starts / 6 wins / 1 pole / 19 top fives / 28 top tens / 1530 laps led

O’REILLY: 23 starts / 6 wins / 6 poles / 17 top fives / 20 top tens / 1497 laps led

TRUCKS: 3 starts / 0 wins / 0 poles / 1 top fives / 1 top tens / 26 laps led

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