Kurt Busch Reduced to Tears at NASCAR Awards, Hints Towards the Next Step of His Career: “That’s What I Can Give Back”

Throughout the years of his cherished career, Kurt Busch contributed a lot of things to the sport. Alas, it was an unfortunate wreck at Ponoco back in 2022 that cut his career short. Not long after, he had to announce his retirement from racing, but he continued to remain behind the scenes in the sport.

Looking back at all of his accomplishments, NASCAR recently honored his career at the NASCAR Awards. Soon after, Busch spoke on the podium, thanking everyone who supported him in his career as he slowly disintegrated into tears.

He said, “It’s amazing when you have such a family around you all the time. But yet you don’t take time to say thank you and reflect on the people that are around you. And so thank you NASCAR, thank you all the team owners that I raced for, thank you all the sponsors, the manufacturers.”

Busch went on to thank Monster Energy for supporting him, especially during the later stages of his career. He also thanked everyone in the industry for their continued support and for sticking around like family.

The former 23XI Racing driver added, “Highs-lows, I have won a lot of stuff, wrecked a lot of stuff but it has been an incredible journey and I believe the next chapter for me is to help some of our young guys, young girls. Anybody that wants to be an engineer, a crew chief, or a racer. That’s what I can give back.”

Kurt Busch explains what he plans to give back to NASCAR

Speaking further during the speech, he felt grateful for the support system given to him in the last two years since his career-ending injury. He then went on to thank his parent and his younger brother, Kyle Busch, for pushing each other to the next level.

He explained, “To be a champion in this sport it takes that drive it takes that lesson learned early on and I wanna thank my mom, my dad, and my little brother Kyle (Busch). We always pushed each other to be at that next level…”

“You learn to absorb and to be better and so that’s what I want to give back to our next generation of racers and everybody that is involved in NASCAR,” Busch concluded.

Despite no longer racing in the top flight of American Stock car racing, the 2004 Cup Series champion vowed to continue working behind the scenes. Helping a new generation of people to get into NASCAR in their quest to fulfill their dreams and continue to expand the sport of NASCAR.