NASCAR Cup

Retired NASCAR Cup champion Kurt Busch arrested on DWI charges

Kurt Busch, who was forced into retirement after suffering a concussion during the 2022 NASCAR Cup season, was arrested on Monday night.

Nick DeGroot

Edited: Aug 15, 2024, 1:50 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Kurt Busch, 23XI Racing, Jordan Brand Toyota Camry

The 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champion was initially pulled over for speeding. Per a report from Iredell Free News, he was traveling 63mph in a 45mph zone. The incident took place at 11:32 p.m. ET. on Monday.

However, Busch was later arrested and charged with DWI, careless driving, and reckless driving by the Iredell County Sheriff's Office. He was released after three hours and his driver's license has been revoked for 30 days. He will have to appear in court on September 19.

Busch's blood-alcohol level at the time of the arrest was 0.17%, while the legal limit in North Carolina is 0.08%.

Kurt Busch, 23XI Racing, Toyota Camry

Photo by: Jasen Vinlove / NKP / Motorsport Images

Busch hasn't raced in the NASCAR Cup Series since the summer of 2022. A crash during qualifying at Pocono Raceway sidelined him with a concussion. Busch, now 46, was never able to go back racing at the top level of the sport again.

Busch has served as a team ambassador for the 23XI Racing team in the years following the Pocono crash.

His Cup career spanned 23 years, winning 34 races in 776 starts. He won races with various teams throughout his time in the sport, including Team Penske, but his lone championship came with Roush (now RFK Racing). His final race win came with 23IXRacing at Kansas Speedway in 2022, three months before the career-ending crash.

An emotional Busch officially announced his retirement in August, 2023.

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article NASCAR revokes Austin Dillon's playoff spot after Richmond Cup win

Next article The damning data behind Austin Dillon's unprecedented NASCAR penalty

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Chase Elliott's car chief leaves Hendrick for NASCAR Truck crew chief role

NASCAR Truck

NSTR NASCAR Truck

Homestead

27 min

Chase Elliott's car chief leaves Hendrick for NASCAR Truck crew chief role

The surprising convergence behind F1's increasingly competitive 2026 season

Formula 1

The surprising convergence behind F1's increasingly competitive 2026 season

“I was getting beat up” – How Daniel Ricciardo burned out on ‘humiliating’ F1 return

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1 4 h

“I was getting beat up” – How Daniel Ricciardo burned out on ‘humiliating’ F1 return

Myers Riley Motorsports adds Andretti alongside returning Fraga for 2027 IMSA GTD campaign

IMSA

IMSA IMSA 4 h

Myers Riley Motorsports adds Andretti alongside returning Fraga for 2027 IMSA GTD campaign

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts