2002 NASCAR Busch Series
The 2002 NASCAR Busch Series began February 16 and ended November 16.
Bobby Leslie Joe Ruttman 1 Clyde McLeod The EAS/GNC Live Well 300 was held February 16 at Daytona International Speedway.
The Sam's Town 300 was held March 2 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
There were two separate altercations post-race, the most notable being a physical confrontation between Kevin Harvick and Greg Biffle following an incident between the two drivers on lap 241 in which Harvick crashed hard; Harvick was placed on probation for the incident, which saw him being parked from the Virginia 500 Cup Series race when he collided against Coy Gibbs during the Martinsville Trucks race, in violation of the probation.
[2] The other happening just on the other end of pit road in a verbal confrontation between Jimmy Spencer and Jack Sprague after Spencer turned Sprague, who was five laps down, in the last turn on the last lap while chasing down Jeff Green for the win.
Green would ultimately win while Spencer lost two spots in that incident to drop to fourth.
It was also known for privateer driver Ken Alexander and rookie Johnny Sauter causing or getting caught up in multiple incidents with Alexander being a nuisance on the track throughout the race, both finally dropping out before the race's end as well as a hard crash on the last lap between Mark Green and Larry Foyt with Green suffering a broken left foot.
Top ten results Failed to qualify: none The O'Reilly 300 was held April 6 at Texas Motor Speedway.
The Pepsi 300 presented by Kroger was held April 13 at Nashville Superspeedway.
The race was most remembered for "the Big One" on lap 15 which was the largest crash in series history, which involved about 30 cars.
This occurred when Shane Hmiel got into Scott Riggs and he hit Johnny Sauter.
Top ten results Failed to qualify: none The Stacker 2 200 was held May 18 at Nazareth Speedway.
Purvis has never fully recovered from the injuries he suffered, although he would return to drive a NASCAR stock car two years later at the final Busch race at Nazareth.
Top ten results Failed to qualify: none The Inside Traxx 300 presented by Met-Rx was held June 8 at Nashville Superspeedway.
Top ten results Failed to qualify: none The Tropicana Twister 300 was held July 13 at Chicagoland Speedway.
Todd Bodine won the pole while Christian Elder and Dan Pardus suffered hard crashes during qualifying.
Elder sustained concussion and a broken collarbone, which effectively ended his racing career while Pardus escaped his crash uninjured.
The week was marked by tragedy as Andy Kirby was killed in a motorcycle accident on July 18.
Top ten results Failed to qualify: none The Kroger 200 was held August 3 at Indianapolis Raceway Park.
Top ten results Failed to qualify: none The Cabela's 250 was held August 17 at Michigan International Speedway.
Mike Harmon was uninjured crash in practice despite his car was nearly full destroyed.
This race was marred by several large accidents, the hardest involved Derrike Cope, whose car suffered a stuck throttle, and slammed the turn 1 wall with such force that the A pillar snapped and the roof was partially ripped off.
75) The MBNA All-American Heroes 200 was held September 21 at Dover International Speedway.
44) The Sam's Town 250 Benefitting St. Jude was held October 20 at Memphis Motorsports Park.
The race was scheduled for October 19, but was postponed a day for rain, and was broadcast on tape delay due to a conflict with the Old Dominion 500.
At the end of this race, Greg Biffle would become the 2002 NASCAR Busch Series Champion.
Scott Riggs of ppc Racing took home the 2002 Rookie of the Year title, winning twice and finishing tenth in points.
Johnny Sauter won at Chicagoland Speedway and finished 14th in points despite skipping the Carquest Auto Parts 300.
Shane Hmiel and Casey Mears finished 16th and 21st respectively in their NASCAR debuts, while Kerry Earnhardt had two top-fives in his second bid for top rookie honors.
Brian Vickers, Kasey Kahne, and Dan Pardus ran limited schedules during their rookie campaigns.
