"I leaned on him a lot": When Kurt Busch credited Matt Kenseth for shaping his NASCAR career

Former NASCAR champion Kurt Busch spoke about former teammate Matt Kenseth in high regard and shared how their close relationship helped them both succeed about 13 years ago.

Busch raced in the NASCAR Cup Series for more than two decades. He debuted with Roush Racing in 2000 where he joined Kenseth, who joined the team the previous year. Kenseth won the Cup title in 2003, a year before Busch's championship win. During a 2012 interview, Busch was asked about a NASCAR driver he enjoyed racing with and he praised Kenseth for their bond and teamwork.

"He [Matt Kenseth] and I developed a great rapport early in our careers. At Roush Racing, the 6 car was the primary car and the 99 was the second car (in one shop), and at the other shop it was the 17 guys and the 97 guys. In 2002, it was a breakthrough year for me and I leaned on Matt a lot; he won the championship in '03 and then '04 was my championship run," Busch said via (SB Nation)

"We changed the whole landscape at Roush Racing to where the 17 and 97 were the primary cars. The two of us were just young, hard-nosed Late Model racers, and it was just so easy to be on the same page as Matt. We still have that today," he added.

Kenseth stayed and competed 13 full-time seasons with Jack Roush's team before joining Joe Gibb's Racing in 2013. Meanwhile, Kurt Busch left for Penske in 2006.

"Ryan Newman was always very generous to me" - Kurt Busch on getting along with former Penske teammate

Kurt Busch also spoke about his experience racing alongside the 2008 Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman. During the same May 2012 interview, Busch responded to a question about a driver who he disliked racing against because they were hard to pass.

"There's different guys and there's different times of the year when it happens. Like if it's somebody's contract year or if it's late in the year and somebody hasn't performed well, you can see their tendencies change on the track," Busch said (via SB Nation).

"But I don't have one specific guy...Ryan Newman was always very generous to me, but a lot of guys say he's tough to pass," he added.

However, the same year, later in May, Newman accused Busch of lying and having a “chemical imbalance,” after a pit-road incident at Darlington Raceway. Kurt Busch accepted NASCAR’s $50,000 fine for reckless driving at the track after he hit Newman’s car after the race.

Busch later responded to Newman's comments which he felt were unfair.

"Newman and I were friends. We were great teammates and he needs to check his trophy case on that (2008) Daytona 500 trophy that I helped him get years ago. There was no need for his comments afterwards," Busch said (via ESPN).

The two were teammates at Penske for three years between 2006 and 2008.