BUSCH UNLIKELY TITLIST
After starting Cup season in hospital, driver ends on stage with biggest prize
HOMESTEAD, FLA. After Kyle Busch’s leg snapped in half in a February crash, there were a few moments of fear that he might never race again.
His right leg and left foot badly broken on the day before the Daytona 500, Busch’s immediate concern was learning how to walk again rather than getting back into a car.
Making NASCAR’s Chase for the Sprint Cup? Unthinkable, as Busch figured to be out until at least July. Winning his first career title? The kind of comeback only Disney could imagine.
But that’s exactly what happened Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, with Busch pulling off another unlikely victory in the Ford EcoBoost 400 — his fifth of the season — to clinch his first career championship.
“I don’t know if I quite understand life yet,” an emotional Busch said on the team radio, “but there’s something to be said about this year.”
You’ll have to forgive Busch if he has trouble making sense of all that happened in 2015. It seems too far-fetched to believe.
It’s a shame ESPN left the sport after 2014, because Busch’s comeback would make a great 30 for 30 documentary.
“I don’t know that anybody could have ever dreamt of this year,” he said. “As bad as it was, I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re looking to achieve a championship this way. It’s certainly not easy, but it’ll make you mentally stronger and physically stronger.”
Busch’s story is how an aggressive, brash driver toned down his act and matured into a husband, new father and — now — Cup champion. It’s about countless hours of agonizing work behind the scenes to get him back on his feet again after the Daytona crash, after which he spent weeks in a hospital bed that was wheeled onto the first floor of his North Carolina home.
Busch would stare out the window at the birds and watch races on TV, thinking about all he was
missing. It took him 21⁄2 hours the first time he tried to take a shower after his injury (and that was with help). At one point, he turned to wife Samantha while watching a race and asked for help bending his toe; he couldn’t move it himself.
The desire to get back drove him to give maximum effort on his physical therapy, and he stunned the NASCAR world by announcing a return to the Sprint Cup Series in mid-May — sooner than anyone expected.
“This wasn’t a vacation for us,” Samantha said. “He wasn’t sitting there just like, ‘ Oh, I’m going to stay at home and have a margarita on the beach.’ He was learning to walk again. He worked his butt off. His physical therapist would leave, and he’d be like, ‘ OK, get my (stretching) bands, we’re going to do more. I gotta get back early.’ ”
Still, a long road was ahead. Not only would he have to win a race — no easy task for a healthy driver — but he’d also have to get back into the top 30 of the standings to earn a playoff spot.
A summer hot streak saw him win three consecutive races and four out of five. Then came Sunday, which might have been a victory Busch will never top. He didn’t lead the most laps, but he was in the championship position for almost the entire race. Samantha was feeling nervous. “With 30 (laps) to go, I was like, ‘I’m going to throw up,’ ” she said. “Last year at this race, I was throwing up because I was pregnant. Now I’m going to throw up because I’m nervous.”
And when a debris caution showed up with 10 laps to go? “I wasn’t even breathing,” she said.
His victory negated a fairy-tale finish for Jeff Gordon, who was seeking his fifth NASCAR title in his final race as a full-timer. Gordon finished sixth. Defending champ Kevin Harvick made a run at Busch but settled for second. Martin Truex Jr., the fourth driver in the Chase finale, was 12th.
In the end, Busch was in victory lane. His childhood hero, Gordon, congratulated him there.
“His talent is so strong,” Gordon said. “What he went through this year, I see a changed Kyle. When he came back, not only was he driven and inspired, but you could tell he was racing smarter, with more patience. ... There was a pretty good chance he was destined to win this championship.”
Destiny? Perhaps. Busch was lucky to be alive in February, and no one expected anything out of him after that.
“Nothing bigger in sports has ever happened to me,” said team owner Joe Gibbs, who has three Super Bowl wins as a coach.
And so it came to be that despite missing 11 races, Busch, 30, is the champion of NASCAR — he might only just be getting started.
“Kyle’s always been a champion in my mind,” his brother, Kurt Busch, the 2004 champ, told USA TODAY Sports, his voice cracking. “To experience this with him and to welcome him to the champion’s club is something I’ve always wanted to do.”