By: Kelly Crandall | 9 hours ago It’s hard to believe Kyle Busch has many milestones left to reach in his NASCAR career. But this weekend he’ll cross another off the list as he makes his 500th start in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.Busch made his first six starts in 2004 when he was just 19 years old. A year later he was full-time in the series with Hendrick Motorsports, driving the No. 5 Chevrolet. Now with Joe Gibbs Racing, Busch will make his 500th start at age 33 and with 14 full years of experience.Last week during Daytona 500 Media Day Busch was asked about his milestone start, and he revealed he had recently been reflecting and watching old videos.

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“Like my ARCA win at Daytona, and I saw a video of the 2007 Daytona 500 [when] I was running third, Kurt was leading, Tony [Stewart] was second,” Busch said. “Looking at some of that stuff and just being like, damn, that was a long time ago. That was 10, 11 years ago. It’s like holy moly. So, to think there’s another 10 [years] left of that — it’s sure gone by quick.“I don’t know if the next 10 will go by that fast or if it’ll feel like forever, but we’ll see what happens.”

Here are 18 memorable Cup Series moments from the driver of the No. 18 Toyota.

First career winBusch’s domination had to start somewhere, and he did dominate for his first win at Fontana in 2005 in his 31st career start. Busch led 95 laps (a race-high) after starting 25th. Bristol, March 2007One of the earliest quotable moments in Busch’s career came after a victory. Busch won the first race NASCAR ran using its Car of Tomorrow. After thanking his team, sponsors and acknowledging the win for his Hendrick team and Chevrolet, Busch told the world in victory lane, “I’m still not a very big fan of these things, I can’t stand to drive them. They suck.” Texas, April 2007An eyebrow-raising moment if nothing else, this day saw Dale Earnhardt Jr. drive Busch’s No. 5 car. The two were involved in an accident when smoke from a Tony Stewart spin led Busch to slam into the back of Earnhardt’s car. Earnhardt later blew an engine and retired from the race, while at the same time Busch’s car was finished being repaired and ready to hit the track. In what was chalked up as a miscommunication, Busch had left, and his team needed a driver. Earnhardt got in the car as a favor to some of the team members he knew. Ironically, two months later Earnhardt signed with Hendrick and Busch needed a new ride. Brothers gone badKyle and older brother Kurt haven’t clashed often on track, but when they have, it’s big. Such was the case in the May 2007 All-Star Race when Kyle had a run on Kurt going down the frontstretch and into Turn 1. Kyle got sideways and when he spun he hit Kurt, sending him into the wall as well. The two would be upset with each other until their grandmother told them to “get back to your normal selves” at Thanksgiving. =center

Signing with Joe Gibbs RacingBusch didn’t stay on the free agent market long. Two months after Earnhardt signing with HMS, it was announced Joe Gibbs had signed Busch to a multi-year contract. It was a turning point in Busch’s career as he won eight races in his first season with JGR (200, four more than he had in his previous three seasons combined at HMS. He hasn’t looked back since. Toyota’s first win, 2008Busch’s first win with JGR was a major milestone for another reason. In the fourth race of the season at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Busch led 173 laps on his way to the checkered flag, which was the very first win in NASCAR Cup Series competition for Toyota. Richmond, May 2008Three laps to go. Turn 3. The night Busch became the most hated driver in NASCAR to one fan base when he made contact with Earnhardt, which spun Earnhardt from the race lead. =center

Las Vegas, 2009Busch won the pole for the race in his hometown, but had to start in the rear because of a blown engine. After telling the crowd during driver introductions he was going to put on a show, Busch made good on the promise. He kissed the finish line after his celebration and said it was bigger than winning the Daytona 500.

By: Kelly Crandall 10 hours ago Sweeping Bristol (twice)Busch loves to race and the more, the better. With all three series in Bristol every summer, Busch finds himself a busy man, and in 2010 he became the first driver to win all three races at the same track in the same weekend. In 2017, Busch repeated the feat. Darlington bumper tagThe two consider each other buddies now, but there were no such feelings in May 2011. As Mike Joy summed up, “there was a pass, there was contact, and then … Kyle Busch came and turned Kevin Harvick around.” It was after the race when things escalated. Harvick parked on pit road as Busch came up behind him, got out and attempted to get to Busch, but Busch wanted to no part of it. Busch ran into the back of Harvick’s car, sending it into the wall, and drove away. Busch benchedAside from injuries he would suffer in 2015, the only other time Busch has missed a Cup Series race was when he was suspended in November 2011. The penalty carried over after Busch wrecked Ron Hornaday Jr. in the Friday night Truck Series race at Texas. The two had first made contact when Hornaday got out of the groove while underneath Busch and both went up into the wall. Busch then chased Hornaday down under caution, hooked him in the right rear and sent both of them into the wall again. Championship comebackA broken right leg and left foot from the Feb. 2015 Xfinity Series race at Daytona saw Busch out of his Cup car until May. Upon his return, and knowing he had a playoff waiver if he won and was top 30 in points, Busch got to work. It took him five weeks to win and then he kept winning with three more victories going into the postseason. Once there, he saved his fifth win for the season finale en route to his first championship. =center

Everything is greatGood can come from bad. The bad was Busch trying to knock out Joey Logano after the 2017 Las Vegas race in which Logano spun Busch on the final lap. Busch ended up bloody and furious at being “dumped.” A week later, Busch responded to questions with variations of “everything is great” which was eventually turned into a T-shirt and sold for charity. Charlotte mic dropWith as much racing as Busch does, he sees a lot. So when Austin Dillon beat him on fuel mileage for the May 2017 win in the Coca-Cola 600, he wasn’t surprised and told the media center as much. “I’m not surprised about anything. Congratulations.” And then he dropped the microphone onto the table. He doesn’t like BradThere have been plenty of Kyle Busch vs. insert-driver-here rivalries. One of the biggest has been with Brad Keselowski as the two have had numerous on-track run-ins and Twitter exchanges. During Championship 4 Media Day in 2017 Busch simply said, “sometimes you just don’t like a guy.” Racetrack conquerorAnother milestone was crossed off the list in May 2018 when Busch finally won the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte. Not only was it another crown jewel event to add to his résumé, but Busch also earned the bragging right of being the first driver to win at every Cup Series track he’s started a race. Kyle vs. KyleBusch and Larson going at it has become common, and entertaining. One particular show was the last lap at Chicagoland in July 2018 when Larson slid up into Busch in Turns 1 and 2, Busch then ran into the back of Larson in Turns 3 and 4, bounced off the wall as Larson spun and Busch beat him to the finish line. The two spoke passionately afterward about the hard racing and having no hard feelings. And Busch gave the world yet another GIF by mimicking a crying gesture to the TV camera. 50th career winWinning at Richmond is familiar to Busch and with the fall 2018 victory, his seventh of the 2018 season and sixth at the track, Busch moved his Cup Series total to 50. In doing so, he moved into a tie with Ned Jarrett and Junior Johnson for 11th on the all-time wins list.