NASCAR legend Kurt Busch raced Cup Series at Talladega with a stuffed animal in his car

NASCAR Cup Series News Wednesday, May 13, 2026 at 8:00 AM ET •By Graham Shaw

No really, this actually happened, NASCAR legend Kurt Busch running a Cup Series race at Talladega with a stuffed animal in his car.

The 47-year-old freshly inducted Hall of Famer racked up 34 Cup Series wins during a career which spanned 776 starts, including an epic Daytona 500 success in 2017.

Those career highlights may just have been eclipsed though with perhaps Kurt’s most bizarre accomplishment in the premier racing series. Busch has revealed that he actually ran a full race with a stuffed animal in the car.

Kurt did the big reveal on the Door Bumper Clear podcast, and what a story it is.

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Kurt on Cup Series, Talladega and cougars

“I was running with James Finch, he would do anything for you to have fun. We had a charity program that weekend at Talladega and I was going through it, like we weren’t really rounding up sponsors when I was running with Finch - we had a few early in the year and then things were starting to fizzle out.”

It was time for drastic action, and Kurt came up with a pretty wild way to make things interesting, both for a potential sponsor and for the NASCAR fanbase.

“I’m like ‘hey man, can I just run a paint scheme for our military and have the cougar car at Talladega?’ Because Talladega Nights, and he was going through it in the movie, right? I mean Will Ferrell’s working his way back up, trying to find his mojo, and he had to learn to drive with a cougar in the car - that’s what his Dad taught him to do.”

So where did they actually put the cougar?

So now Busch had a plan, all he had to do was execute, but what about the logistics? Like, an actual stuffed cougar, in the car. First, somewhat incredibly, he got clearance to do it - this is why we love NASCAR.

Kurt continued: “NASCAR let me run, with a stuffed cougar in the car. It was on the down bar, right next to the oil tank, a stuffed animal. Like could have got a little hot, could have totally caught on fire - there’s a cougar in the car!”

So, pretty epic idea from Kurt, and only one thing spoiled what could have been the perfect day - the end result.

Busch started the race on pole in his No. 41 Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing and led for 108 laps, only losing his victory chance late in the day when a late fuel strategy gamble failed to pay off. He would eventually finish in 14th position.