victory that season came in a Silver Crown race at Nazareth Speedway. Walker would slowly begin to transition to the Busch Series by first mastering the time trials segment of the race weekend. To prepare for this, he qualified the #38 Great Clips Dodge entry owned by Akins Motorsports, and driven by his USAC boss and now dear friend Kasey Kahne, on two separate occasions, first at Nashville Superspeedway, and again at Kentucky Speedway, both events coming within seven days of each other. To further study for his major-league stock passenger car debut, he competed in another ASA race at Madison International Speedway. Walker started the #70 Terry Kunes Chevrolet twenty-eighth, passed a net total of twenty cars, and finished eighth at the conclusion of the event, completing all 250 laps. Now fully prepared for the rigors involved in NASCAR racing, Walker made his NASCAR Busch Series debut at Pikes Peak International Raceway, near the famous Pikes Peak in Colorado. He posted an eighth place qualification effort in the #38 Great Clips/Akins Dodge but fell to 27th by the end of the racing session and was fifty laps off the pace. He chose to attempt his next race with BACE Motorsports, which fielded the #74 Outdoor Channel Chevrolet Monte Carlo and had won three consecutive Busch Series championships in the mid-1990s, when young Walker was but a teenager. In this race, he posted 35th during time trials but did pass five cars to finish 30th in the final running order of the race. In his final stock car start of the season at Memphis Motorsports Park, Walker returned to the Great Clips team. He failed to qualify for the main feature on speed and was forced to take a provisional starting spot. He methodically and smoothly moved through the racing field to come home in twelfth position, his best finish to that point in NASCAR stock cars. Return to stock cars and sprints (2005–2007) In 2005, Walker signed a contract to drive the #38 Great Clips entry for Akins, again splitting time with longtime friend and former boss Kasey Kahne. Teamed with crew chief Jon Wolfe, Walker would compete in a total of fifteen races for the operation along with competing part-time for Rookie of the Year honors in the NASCAR Busch Series. He made an additional start for the Jay Robinson Racing team, driving the #28 Deka Batteries Ford