The way Kyle Busch dealt with a serious on-track injury in 2015 was one of the aspects of his career that team owner Joe Gibbs will remember most.
In the season-opening NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Daytona International Speedway, Busch crashed into the inside wall in Turn 1 and fractured his right leg and left foot.
On Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Gibbs recalled being at the hospital before Busch underwent surgery to repair the broken bones.
“At that point, he was on a gurney, and the doctor was there,” Gibbs said. “Sam (Busch’s wife Samantha) was there. Everybody was kind of there, and Kyle was raving at the doctor, and he was going, ‘Get me in there. Fix this. I want to get back to racing.’”
To Gibbs, that scene was emblematic of the grit and determination that made Busch so successful.
“So, I just think, as far as courage and determination and a desire to win, I got to tell you, I’m not sure how many people could have or athletes could have gone through that and handled it that way,” Gibbs said.
“So the one thing I always felt about Kyle, that guy had great courage. He was not afraid of almost anything, and he had a burning desire to race. It was just inside of him.”
Indeed. Sidelined for the first 11 races of the 2015 season, Busch returned to win five races and the first of his two Cup champions.
In his honor, all four Joe Gibbs Racing cars in Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race will pay tribute to Busch’s memory.
The No. 54 Toyota of Taylor Gray features the “Rowdy” insignia on its name rail. The No. 18, driven by William Sawalich, bears Busch’s name on both name rails.
Those two numbers carry immense significance within Busch’s legacy. In the No. 54 JGR Toyota, he accumulated 31 of his series-record 102 O’Reilly Series victories.
Busch also used the No. 54 when he fielded his own O’Reilly Series team in 2012. His brother, NASCAR Hall of Famer Kurt Busch, earned the only victory in the car that year, winning at Richmond.
The 18 is the number most closely associated with Busch throughout his NASCAR Cup Series career and much of his O’Reilly Series career with Joe Gibbs racing.
In addition to the Nos. 18 and 54, the No. 19 of Brent Crews and the No. 20 of Brandon Jones will feature Busch’s name on the right side of the respective cars.
In Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600, all JGR and 23XI Racing Cup cars will feature the Rowdy logo on the name rails.
NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell recalls Kyle Busch as an “American badass”
When recalling his interactions with Kyle Busch, NASCAR CEO summed up the driver’s talent and personality in a single telling phrase.
“Kyle Busch to me is an American badass,” O’Donnell said during a question-and-answer session with reporters on Friday afternoon at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “Behind the wheel, who you want to be.
“And I think, when you look back at all those things, that’s part of being a race car driver. That’s part of representing the sport.”
A sudden, severe illness took Busch’s life on Thursday, throwing the entire NASCAR community into shock and sadness.
O’Donnell said a variety of possibilities are under consideration to commemorate Busch’s achievement on and off the race track. One idea is to include Busch, whose NASCAR Hall of Fame credentials are impeccable, in the recently named Hall of Fame Class of 2027 that includes drivers Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton and Larry Phillips.
“I know that we put that on the list of ideas that we want to look at,” O’Donnell said. “I think… I said earlier there’s things we want to do this weekend, and then we have a little bit more time to think about what we could do as well in the future. Who knows, that could be something we look at.”
Driver Brad Keselowski weighed in on the subject on Saturday.
“I understand there’s a lot of things to work through on that, but it’s very clear that Kyle is a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and I don’t know why that needs to wait another year,” Keselowski said in endorsing the idea.
Family releases statement on cause of Kyle Busch’s death
In a short statement released Saturday morning, the Kyle Busch family detailed the cause of the champion driver’s sudden death at age 41.
“The medical evaluation provided to the Busch Family concluded that severe pneumonia progressed into sepsis, resulting in rapid and overwhelming associated complications.
“The family asks for continued understanding and privacy during this difficult time.”
The two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion passed away on Thursday afternoon.
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