Kurt Busch brands his 2004 NASCAR Cup championship year as “truly just a magical year”

Ex-NASCAR Cup Series champion Kurt Busch has shared his true feelings about the 2004 championship win.

Kurt Busch brands his 2004 NASCAR Cup championship year as “truly just a magical year”

Kurt Busch (Via IMAGO)

The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season marked two decades since the first ever playoff era championship in the premier stock car racing. NASCAR introduced a new point system in 2004, which has now evolved into the current format, and retired racer Kurt Busch became the first ever Cup winner in the era.

Kurt Busch recently sat down with RCACER to recall his maiden and only championship win. He pointed out that 2004 was a truly magical year for him and the timing of it was perfect as well, as it came in a time where he really learned to master the Cup cars. They made a game plan to tackle the whole season when the new point system was announced that season and it went as they envisioned.

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That’s what led to 2004. It was a nice mental reset of knowing that I was starting to master the cars, master the setups, and then me and Jimmy Fennig, once they announced the new point system, we sat down on Jan. 1 and had a game plan… 2004 was truly just a magical year.

Kurt Busch said via RACER.

The main plan of his team was to play the sleeper team or the underdogs, saving their test session for late in the season and take advantage of it. They had to work really hard to figure out fighting for the championship with the new car and format, and Busch admitted that they were enduring a level of stress they never expected.

The way the season started, our overall game plan was to be an underdog and to be kind of a sleeper team, and some of that was to save our test sessions back in the day…We used all of our setups for 2003 to start, and then as the season went on, of course, we were advancing… We were everywhere and we worked hard. It was so stressful, though. That was the only thing we didn’t see coming.

Kurt Busch added.

Kurt Busch revealed the race win that gave him real confidence

In the same interview, Busch revealed the playoff race win that elevated them from the underdogs to the driver to beat. He pointed out that the post season win at Loudon set the tone for his team and gave them the confidence to win the title, producing an impressive show.

NASCAR, Motorsport, USA Coke Zero Sugar 400 Aug 26, 2023; Daytona Beach, Florida, USA; Kurt Busch reads from a prepared
Kurt Busch (Via IMAGO)

We won the first-ever NASCAR playoff race in Loudon and we set the tone. We were like, ‘OK, we’re done being the underdogs. We’re here for the for the show.

Kurt Busch said.

The future Hall of Famer is now having some in his life and though he had another run-in with law, as he was charged for Dwi recently. Though he retired from Cup racing, fans ae still expecting to make some occasional race outings sometime in the future.