Kurt Busch turns back on NFL with soccer claim – | Sports News

Former NASCAR Cup Series champion Kurt Busch has revealed his admiration for Inter Miami superstar Lionel Messi.

Ahead of the 2025 Race of Champions in Sydney on Friday and Saturday – where he and Travis Pastrana will represent Team USA – Busch took part in a wide-ranging interview where, among other topics, he surprisingly spoke about Messi.

Asked which sporting icon he’d swap lives for a week with if given the choice, Busch opted for the Inter Miami forward, explaining to Man of Many: “You know, in America, soccer is growing. It’s not as well known. We have so many NFL games and Major League Baseball. I guess I’d be a soccer guy. I would exchange it with Messi… I just love his charisma and his character out on the field.”

Messi has been living the American dream since 2023 when he joined mid-season after his tenure with Paris Saint-Germain came to an end. In a recent interview, Messi admitted that his two seasons in France didn’t exactly go to plan, following his trophy-laden career at Barcelona.

“Coming to play for Inter Miami was an opportunity and the way things developed during my last years in Paris, although it was a decision that I had to make on the go because I had to leave from Barcelona, I went through two years which I didn’t enjoy,” he told Zane Lowe for Apple TV. “I wasn’t happy on a daily basis, with the trainings, the matches, I had a hard time adapting to all that.”

Now living in Florida, Messi said he is enjoying life, playing alongside former Barca teammates Luis Suarez, Jordi Alba, and Sergio Busquets at Chase Stadium, led by another ex-teammate in Javier Mascherano.

“I feel very well today, I am enjoying where I am, what I do, my daily trainings, the games, my friends, my family,” Messi said. “I enjoy going to Argentina, perhaps a lot more than when I was young, not being aware of a lot of things. I enjoy more the little details I perhaps didn’t appreciate before.

“I honestly feel happy living day by day, I never thought much about the future, rather I live day by day. I believe that when something happens it’s because it was meant to be, because it needed to happen and I don’t rush ahead, I simply enjoy and live what comes my way today.”

Busch too appears to be enjoying life at the moment, having recently taken the time to visit the Sydney Zoo with his girlfriend Lyda Moore ahead of the race. “Lions and tigers and red pandas…oh my! Spent the morning @theSydneyzoo and learned so much about all the unique animals there. Thank you so much to the entire staff for showing us around! The red panda was definitely our favorite!” he captioned his Instagram post reflecting on the trip.

Recently, he and Pastrana also got together at the zMAXDragway in North Carolina where they set up a course to practice for the upcoming Race of Champions.