Kyle Busch gets real on missing out on F1 and calls its culture like the Super Bowl for partiers

NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Busch recently opened up on missing out on his chance to be a part of Formula 1 for reasons like his age and size. Appearing in one of comedian Bert Kreischer's YouTube videos that was released earlier this week, Busch explained the difference between him and F1 drivers, as well as highlighted the differences between people who attend NASCAR and F1 races, comparing it to the spectators of the championship game of the NFL, who are there just to be photographed and seen.

The Richard Childress Racing driver and his wife, Samantha Busch, appeared in the video with Kreischer, where he asked the two-time Cup Series champion if he would compete in the other motorsport. While Busch believes he's missed out on the opportunity now, he may have been able to a few years ago.

"I'm turning 40, so I'm gonna say the time might have passed. But, I would say in my prime of age 33 to 38 or so that I was probably ready, I was there, I was good, I could have done it." [28:09]

The Cup driver also explained that his height and weight would act as a barrier.

"I'm just too big, I'm 6'1 200 lbs, so it's hard to. They're littler guys, they're jockeys." [28:23]

When discussing the type of audience that attends races, Busch drew a comparison to the Super Bowl, the major NFL event, which boasts a lot of media attention, similar to F1.

“It's kind of like going to the Super Bowl and going to all the Super Bowl parties. You just want to be seen.” [28:52]

While Kyle Busch never competed in F1, over his ongoing career in the Cup Series, he scored championship wins in 2015 and 2019, along with 63 race wins, 252 Top-fives, and 386 Top-10 finishes.

The closest Kyle Busch came to racing in F1

Kyle Busch during qualifying for the Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway, November 13, 2009 - Source: Imagn

Way back in 2010, Kyle Busch was part of a shortlist to join a new F1 team, called US F1, which was being started by Ken Anderson and Peter Windsor. At the time, Busch was racing for Joe Gibbs Racing with a contract set to expire after the 2012 season, but the US F1 team wanted him for their first year in the sport, which would've been 2011.

While he had no intentions of leaving, the driver stated that the only way he would be interested in racing in European motorsport was if he won the NASCAR Cup Series championship title. Highlighting his plans in 2009, Busch explained [via ESPN]:

"I want to get it done here first," he said. "If I could win a championship in the next two or three years, I wouldn't mind going over there and running Formula One a couple of years, then come back. I'd only be 28 or so."

While the US F1 team never made it to the sport, Kyle Busch went on to secure multiple championship titles, cementing that he made the right decision to stay with the American stock car racing sport.