“As I continue to focus on my health and work towards being cleared, I will be stepping away from full-time NASCAR Cup Series competition in 2023.” Kurt Busch said in his retirement announcement in 2022. After 23 seasons of high-stakes battles and a 2004 championship, Busch’s retirement marked the end of an era for the veteran driver. Fans watched as Busch shifted from racing to quiet recovery, leaving many to wonder about the hidden toll of his final wreck.

That day, a routine qualifying run became a life-altering hit when doctors diagnosed him with concussions. For Busch, that one moment at Pocono reshaped a career built on grit and speed and also resulted in months of uncertainty about his coming back to the track. As unknown details emerge from his raw reflections, the true weight of that day comes into sharp focus.

Kurt Busch’s quiet battle after the Pocono crash

On the Spake Up Podcast, Kurt Busch peeled back the layers of his July 23, 2022, qualifying crash at Pocono Raceway, a 2.5-mile triangle known for its tricky corners. Busch later shared, “And so when I took that hit, when I backed in, the car then swung around and hit the right front. And I don’t remember the car hitting the right front. I was in outer space, like everything’s black and white.”

In Turn 3, his No. 45 Toyota spun, slamming the right rear into the wall at 30 G-force and then turning around to hit the front body at 18 G-force. This violent double hit during what should have been a regular standard lap sparked immediate concussion symptoms that sidelined him from racing entirely. Later that year, after long, uncertain months, he finally announced his retirement.

The aftermath hit hard in the infield care center, where Busch struggled through baseline tests like the King-Devick protocol on an iPad, where one has to read a few numbers. These tests were not new to Busch, as he had passed all of them in pre-season, but after the crash, he fumbled slowly.

Doctors noted the seriousness of the concussion when Busch could not recall anything about the right-front impact. As he told ESPN, “The wreck might not look like it wasn’t that violent. But primal fear is—I leaned forward, knowing I was backing into the fence… I don’t remember the right front hit. That’s when things got serious in the infield care center.” That blackout about the right front hit led him to the no medical clearance zone, pulling him from the playoffs and the five races that followed, with Ty Gibbs stepping in for 23XI Racing.

Emotionally, the realization crushed him. Back at his motorhome, a call from his dad urged him to watch the replay, which exposed the full damage that he couldn’t recall. “That’s when I lost it emotionally,” Busch admitted on the podcast, breaking down as the video replayed the unseen hit.

This wasn’t just a setback. That crash gave Busch vestibular issues like balance and eye movement problems, for which he had to visit the doctor every other day. “It was taxing for a while. Basically, every other day it was a doctor visit somewhere and going to get hearing checked, eyes checked, balance checked. The vestibular movements were what was greatly affected. I still feel the lingering effects.”

The crash ended his full-time run after 776 starts and 34 wins, but Busch did not leave the racing track entirely, and how could he? He joined 23XI in a consultant role and is also planning on returning to racing, like the 2025 Race of Champions.

Yet even as Busch navigates recovery, his passion for NASCAR’s evolution shines through, offering fresh ideas on the playoff future.

Busch enters the playoff debate with a hybrid take

As the playoff debate around the NASCAR garage is picking up pace every passing day, new faces enter the debate with their own ideas and takes. Considering how important this topic is, a veteran racer, who has given 23 years of his life to the sport, couldn’t help but voice his opinion as well. Kurt Busch, who won the 2004 championship under the old 10-race setup, also weighed in.

“I think we need a little bit of a hybrid of what we have currently, versus a full 36-race schedule versus a 10-race playoff format, which is what I won under,” he said, speaking on SiriusXM’s The Morning Drive.

This take from Busch comes after a lot of feedback is given by teams and insiders to tweak the playoff in this way and that way, with a single aim to blend season-long effort with playoff excitement without letting one lucky race crown a champ.

He suggested a five-race finale mixing short tracks, intermediates, road courses, and superspeedways, carrying over regular-season points for a fair edge. “I think you need a five-race style format, and you keep some points from the regular season, but it’s the five races, and you accumulate as many points as you can during those five. If you’re lucky enough to have four or five points in the bank coming into the final race, you use that to your advantage,” Busch explained.

This pitch mirrors his versatile career, as this five-race format, which Buch suggests, spans over ovals and roads, and this format will test the skill across surfaces, and most importantly, it will not come down to a single race to announce the champion. Busch’s take adds veteran weight and experience to the debate, but whether it influences NASCAR’s decision-making process remains to be seen.