The thing about any sport, including NASCAR, is that it turns any normal situation for the athletes, the fans, and everyone involved into the highest of highs within moments. But at the same time, it can also turn those highs into the lowest of lows. That’s what happened with Kurt Busch last year. The 23XI Racing driver started a new chapter in his long, illustrious career, and it was going pretty well for the most part. But then, within moments, his career came to an end after he suffered a severe concussion injury in a wreck during qualifying at Pocono.
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Busch didn’t get to choose the ending of his NASCAR career, which, according to sports psychologist Dr. Mark Tobin, is usually the case. “Very few athletes get to pick the circumstances or the time in which their career is going to end. So the best way to handle that is to not think about it,” he said in a recent short film by NASCAR.
Yet Busch, when confronted with this idea, couldn’t help but think about it as his emotions almost got the better of him.
Kurt Busch fights back tears as he reflects on a key part of his life
Looking at the way his career ended, Busch claimed it’s been “a fun chapter” to give back and help in his new role at 23XI Racing. “Whether it’s Bubba or Tyler as drivers, but all the engineers and mechanics. I can just see this spark of them wanting to learn more,” he said.
This role of giving back led to the former #45 driver then recalling a part of his career and his life, which almost brought him to tears.
“It’s what my dad gave to me early on, and all my crew chiefs, Jimmy Fennig, was one of my favorites because he treated me like I was his son,” Busch described. “I don’t have any children and … it’s alright but I feel like my family is with my race team.”
Busch is “happy” in his new role at 23XI
Speaking ahead of the DAYTONA 500 earlier this year, Kurt Busch opened up on how he is faring in his new role after his racing career was brought to an abrupt end. “I’m happy. I’m complacent,” he said as per RACER.
The veteran claimed that seeing the new #45 driver, Tyler Reddick, head into qualifying gave him “an emotional feeling.” Yet by now, he has positioned himself to be where he is, to see someone else in his racecar taking off.
Busch added that he is quite comfortable in his new role as a consultant with 23XI. And besides, it was going to happen eventually, it’s just “it just happened a year early,” something he wasn’t, or for that matter, no one was quite prepared for.
