Throughout his years in the NASCAR Cup Series, Kurt Busch had a relatively successful career with one championship victory to his name all the way back in 2004. He also won 34 races racing across teams and generations of cars. However, in the blink of an eye, everything changed for him after his car wrecked out during a practice session ahead of last year’s race at the Pocono Raceway.
Advertisement
At first, it seemed like just another wreck, but it was later discovered that Busch suffered from concussion-like symptoms. After being out of the car for an ever-growing amount of time, Busch finally announced his retirement from the sport. The 23XI Racing driver’s career came to an abrupt and unplanned end, mostly because of certain safety issues in the new Next Gen Cars.
Recently, while speaking with former NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace, Busch delivered his verdict regarding the state of the Next Gen cars and the required ongoing improvements by NASCAR, along with further details related to his impact.
Kurt Busch explains his verdict regarding the Next Gen car
Subsequently, Busch responded, “Yeah, it’s got its issues and there’s been changes made since my accident, since Bowman’s. I think Noah Gragson was held out a race or two. It is rigid, it is very stiff, and it’s built to protect a guy like Preece (Ryan), that wreck at Daytona, right? Wasn’t that nasty?”
Busch then explained how the car had been purpose built to withstand high-impact wrecks such as the one with Ryan Preece at Daytona a few weeks ago. But when the same car went to medium or shorter tracks, even something like bum-drafting felt more rigid than it was supposed to be. He then added, “That’s where we have got to continue to soften it up at certain tracks. And they did that with the rear clip, they have done that with different headrests and inserts…”
Later into the conversation, he stated, “…It needs its continued development, I think we’ve seen a lot of cars hit this year and the rear gets crumpled up in a better and a better manner. Let’s just keep working on it let’s just keep committed to it. But the… Tests and the data still gotta be right, you can’t fabricate that stuff, it’s got to be real. “
Busch elaborates on what happened inside the race car during his Pocono wreck
In the same interview, the former Cup Series driver also explained a few details regarding his impact during the life-changing wreck at Pocono Raceway last season. Busch explained, “I mean I exaggerated my wreck because I leaned forward knowing I was gonna back in. But it’s like primal fear. If something’s coming from behind, you are like oh man don’t hit me.”
He added, “So my head was away from the headrest and so when I hit, I exaggerated everything. I don’t even remember the car hitting with the right front. Because I was in outer space.”
Busch may have had his head leaning forward at the time of impact, potentially increasing the force of the crash. However, since that incident, NASCAR has implemented several changes to prevent any future drivers from experiencing such a devastating impact.
