Kurt Busch got to trade in his Toyota Camry for a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 on Thursday. Well, kind of.

The 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champ and incoming NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee went to Europe to attend the WRC’s Rally Finland. Before the start on Thursday, his sponsor Monster Energy linked him up with Oliver Solberg and arranged a ride-along experience where Busch sat shotgun.

Solberg drove his Yaris Rally2 on a shortened version of the Ruuhimäki stage, which was being used for shakedowns.

Besides the Monster connection, Busch and Solberg have ties to Toyota as the latter is affiliated with Toyota Gazoo Racing and earned the Japanese manufacturer’s 100th WRC win at Rally Estonia in July. Busch raced a Camry for 23XI Racing in his final season before retiring due to a concussion.

In a sense, the test was also a way for Busch to catch up with Solberg after they were in the Race of Champions together in March.

Solberg described the session as “a lot of fun. Having my fellow Monster Energy driver Kurt Busch with me in the car for shakedown was really a special moment. This guy is a NASCAR Cup Series champion, he’s a proper all-American hero, so to have him co-driving with me, I loved that.”

Busch is technically no stranger to piloting a rally car. In 2014, he and co-driver Rhianon Gelsomino (now the navigator for Travis Pastrana, who represented Team USA alongside Busch at ROC) drove a Ford Fiesta RS WRC at the Monza Rally.

Could we see Busch try his hand at the WRC someday? Now, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. After all, his career in NASCAR came to an abrupt end in 2022 due to injuries while he was still more than capable of winning races.

Still, he didn’t rule out trying a test drive or something more casual.

“My competitive days are over, but when I come to an event like this, I think about what have I got to do and how fast could I be,” Busch commented. “I’m just having fun with it and rubbing elbows with some of the best in motorsport.”

Featured image credit: Jaanus Ree / Red Bull Content Pool