When a rookie Truck racer was promoted to the Cup Series in 2001, he broke the conventional racing norms of NASCAR. But his hair-raising debut was the first of a sporting life filled with maverick moments. The penalties came as frequently as wins. An unprecedented command over a loose car and a nomadic career with seven different teams.

Such is the legacy of the 2004 champion Kurt Busch. A month after his official retirement, Busch recounted the devastating words that became the beginning of the end for the veteran racer.

When the seventh time was not the charm for veteran Kurt Busch

When the Trackhouse Racing team acquired Chip Ganassi Racing in 2021, it opened room for Kurt Busch to join hands with NBA legend Michael Jordan. Busch became the inaugural pilot of the team’s #45 car. The decision was intended to revitalize the performances of 23XI Racing and its newest driver. Little did he know, it would bring the curtain down on his turbulent NASCAR journey.

Speaking to NASCAR analyst Kenny Wallace, Busch recounted the year that led to his violent crash in Pocono. “The season was going well. Things started off great in 2022 with the new team. We wrecked a couple times. Bristol dirt, that was the one I knew I was thrown for a loop. I was seeing things; the lights were moving. I didn’t feel right, and I almost didn’t get approved to race Talladega. I was under concussion protocol in the underground. I got approved on Saturday before Talladega. 

“I worked my butt off that whole week and I’m going for the lead on the last lap around Kyle Larson and he comes up, changes lanes, and I hit the wall 39 G’s in the tri-oval. Back in the infield Care Center, I couldn’t walk. I fractured my right foot. I wrecked at Dover, I wrecked at Darlington, there was the Coke 600 here. It was like a ping-pong ball bouncing off cars. It was bad man! I went through a bunch of wrecks. That’s what led up to Pocono. And that wreck, I was gone. I was in outer space. I knew it, the doctors knew it and they said you can’t race.”

When a person had spent his life behind the wheel, that pronouncement would come as a devastating blow, surpassing the agony of the concussion.

The racer’s racer bid adieu in the closing chapters of his NASCAR journey

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For a driver whose early career was a relentless tussle with the racing community, Kurt Busch had solidified his place as an exceptional racer by its end. Even though Busch had signaled a partial retirement after the accident, he wasn’t the only one hoping for a miraculous recovery. But months passed in physical therapy and Busch’s worst fears had come true. It was time to say goodbye. At the Daytona International Speedway last month, Kurt Busch announced the end of a remarkable career.

Watch this story: Kyle Busch’s Rollercoaster Ride at Talladega

The depth of despair was enlaced in the hitch of his breath and the tremble of his voice as Busch spoke in the final press conference as a Cup racer. Raw emotion caught the wind and dispersed across the room. Normally scrambling to pose questions, journalists quietly digested his words as melancholy settled around them. Eventually, support rang in unison from all corners for this celebrated racer whose last race was cut short by an occurrence outside his control.

Later, motorsports journalist Jordan Bianchi enquired about the imprint he desired to leave behind in the minds of his grieving fanbase. The veteran touchingly responded, “I want to be remembered as a racer’s racer. Someone who started on dirt, won in all NASCAR divisions, drag-raced in NHRA Pro Stock, raced in the Indy 500, and a rally car in Europe. As a champion who wore his emotions on his sleeve.” And the racing fandom obliged.

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