It was the end of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season and Kurt Busch was content with how his career had panned out over the last two decades. He had won everything, from a Cup championship to over 30 races to competing in other forms of racecar driving such as the INDY500, and so much more. His team, Chip Ganassi Racing, was also on their way out of the sport. It seemed like the right thing to do, to bring the curtain down. But he didn’t.
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Busch joined 23XI Racing in the #45 team for 2022 and showed once again why he’s one of the modern greats. Of course, his stint in the #45 team was tragically cut short post a mid-season injury. But Busch returned in 2022 despite achieving most of the things he would’ve dreamed of. This leads to a question though, why did Kurt Busch return?
The answer is far more interesting and simple than one can imagine.
Denny Hamlin & Michael Jordan couldn’t fully convince Kurt Busch to continue racing
During a conversation with former NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace, Busch opened up on his last season with Chip Ganassi Racing, claiming, his primary sponsor, Monster Energy, was exploring other drivers to sponsor. Then Ganassi also sold his team, which got Busch wondering, “I’m good. I’m satisfied with where everything ended up. Winning Daytona late in my career, winning a championship early in my career.”
But then, his phone rang. “A phone call came in from three different people. One was Denny Hamlin. One was Toyota, the director of the motorsports program, and one was this guy, the GOAT named Michael Jordan. And those three wanted me to come and race for them and start a second car at 23XI,” Busch recalled.
“I said, ‘Guys, I think I’ve fulfilled everything that I’ve wanted to do.’ I’ll tell you what I did, I said, ‘Thank you, let me think about it.'”
Busch went up to an old friend for advice after the Denny-MJ calls
Despite names like Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan wanting him to sign for their new team, Kurt Busch wasn’t sure in his mind. So he went up to an old friend for advice. But not just any old friend, one named Mark Martin, who is also Busch’s mentor, as he claimed.
“I asked Mark, ‘Why did you stay in it so many years after you said you were gonna retire?’ And he said, ‘Kurt, because the phone kept ringing.’ I said, ‘Done. Got it. Yes sir,'” he described. “So I called Denny back. I called MJ back. I called the director of Toyota back. I said, ‘I’m in.'”
Busch then called Monster Energy and told them they’ll build another team that can win races, just as they did at SHR, just as they did at CGR, just as they ended up doing at 23XI.
In his final full-time Cup Season, Kurt Busch won at Kansas and finished inside the Top 5 another 4 times. Had he not suffered that injury at Pocono, who knows just how further his legend would’ve gone in NASCAR?
