Apart from showcasing high-octane racing, NASCAR races also offer entertainment to fans in the form of heated exchanges and occasional altercations between drivers. But this time around, the NASCAR community witnessed an emotional episode during Sunday’s race at the Circuit of The Americas! NASCAR welcomed Kurt Busch to the commentary booth and fans got to hear heart-touching notes when the former 23Xl Racing driver called the final lap.

Fans tried hard to hold in their tears as Kurt was overwhelmed by emotions as he called the last lap while his fellow teammate Tyler Reddick racked up his first win of the season. He mentioned, “It’s amazing how fast we [23 XI] are growing […] I was hoping to be back in this car, but it’s in good hands.”

Speaking about the moment in his podcast Action Detrimental, Denny Hamlin revealed his thoughts and gave the fans a brief insight into Kurt’s position in the team.

Hamlin took his time to appreciate Kurt’s involvement and how he shaped up that #45 team.

Denny Hamlin opens up about Kurt Busch’s role in the team

In the latest episode of the Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin shared his thoughts about the emotional commentary during the final lap of the race. Talking to co-host Jared Allen, he praised the retired driver for his efforts in shaping the current #45 team and how things played out for Reddick.

“He’s just such a great person beyond anything, right? He’s a great teammate, he helped us build that #45 team. And you know his, it was his relationship with Monster Energy that came over to 23XI,” said Hamlin.

“This was all facilitated by Kurt Busch and this team was built around Kurt Busch.” 

Hamlin went on to show his gratitude by sharing how Kurt still plays a significant role in the team. He said, “You see him, how active he is, going and being in pit lane during practices and qualifying, just giving any of our drivers a little bit of information that they might be able to use to be better, giving our crew chiefs information.”

The veteran driver and the co-owner of 23Xl Racing added, “Such a valuable part of our team, and such a great teammate, he is, he’s just the best, he is the best dude.” 

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Hamlin believes Kurt Busch went out on top

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Hamlin talked about the time when he broke his back in 2013 and had to sit out for a few months and watch his car go around the race track. Empathizing with Kurt’s state of mind as he sees his #45 winning races, Hamlin said, “It’s tough, it really was tough and I just can only imagine, right?

“I mean what I loved about Kurt’s career though is that he went out going for the pole, he was probably going to get the pole at Pocono when he got in the wreck. So in my mind, he went out on top.”

Rewind eight months to Pocono. Kurt was performing consistently well and had got a win in Kansas. The #45 driver had a promising season ahead of him but unfortunately, he suffered a horrible crash at Pocono.

Things took a turn for the worse during the qualifying of the race when Kurt Busch overturned into a corner and crashed. This was a huge bummer for fans as the crash later turned out to be much more serious and he had to opt out of the season. A few months later, he took the hard decision to take retirement as he developed serious concussions.

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However, it was great for the fans as they saw him in the broadcasting booth at COTA, taking on a new role.