2015 was a very defining year for Kyle Busch—arguably the most important and impressive one of his illustrious career. The then Joe Gibbs Racing driver was ruled out of the first 11 races that year after sustaining serious injuries in a massive crash at Daytona in an Xfinity race.

Of course, he went on to win the Cup Series title that year.

But still, there were things that Busch had never experienced before, things that perhaps Chase Elliott might be experiencing currently, things which he recently opened up about ahead of the Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Kyle Busch on his two realizations while recovering from his injury in 2015

In an interaction with media ahead of the race in Bristol, Busch was asked how he felt watching David Ragan in his racecar while recovering from his injuries in 2015. Busch claimed there are two ways in which one can go about it.

“The two that I think about is that it shows you how small you are as a piece of the sport. It will be there with or without you. That was always Bill France Sr.’s line, I believe, years and years ago—that the show will go on, and we don’t need you, you need us,” he described. “But then the second nature to that is when you’re on the sidelines injured or whatever it might be and you see your racecar going out there, you miss it.

“You miss being in there and that I think goes to show your drive, determination, passion, fire, desire. Everything for what your passion is in being a racecar driver and being here in this sport.”

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Busch considered retirement in his recovery but then changed his mind

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The two-time champion claimed that seeing David Ragan in his #18 racecar gave him “a new recognition,” a new perspective: “Could I retire and just walk away in the 2015 season, just be done and not worry about coming back?”

Busch described how some of those things go through a driver’s mind. But then, when one goes through a couple of races seeing their car on the racetrack with somebody else in it, it eliminates all thoughts of retirement. You’re like, ‘No, I don’t like this, I don’t think I could do that.’

“So you want to get back out there and I think that kind of re-lights that fire,” Busch added. “It was good to have that for me.”

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