Kyle Busch: Questioning racing future after injury | Forward Progress

Kyle’s Busch’s remarkable 2015 comeback is an inspiring story of resilience and a determination to bounce back from disaster. As told here by Kyle Busch, a February 2015 crash left Kyle with a double compound fracture in his right leg and a broken left foot… and fears that he’d never race again. To the contrary, Kyle’s intense recovery had him (painfully) back behind the wheel in May and winning his first NASCAR Cup Championship that November.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hey, it's Graham. Our past in depth guests have
shared so many inspirational stories about overcoming
adversity and tackling the darkest and most challenging
times in their lives. We're sharing one of those
moments in today's Thursday podcast in the hope that it
provides A blueprint for any difficulties you might be facing
this week. Kyle Busch.

(00:26):
Your 2015 crash take me through what you remember.
Starting with. Moments before the actual.
Crash. I mean, I remember the whole
thing. There was a little bit of grass
before the wall and there was nosafer barrier on this inside
wall. It was just a hard concrete
wall. I kept telling myself, as I'm
sliding, I'm like, pull your feet back.
This is going to hurt. Pull your legs back.
Pull your legs back. Anyway, hit the grass.

(00:48):
I close up. I tense up.
I get my my arms tight, my body tight, my head down and I didn't
pull my legs back. I forgot.
So I hit the wall at 90 miles anhour, which was 90 GS.
The gas pedal it there's a throttle stop on the bottom of
it. Well, it smacked the gas pedal,

(01:08):
which smacked my leg, which broke my leg instantly.
Like I felt it snapped and then my foot was still on the brake.
So while my foot was still on the brake under impact and
everything going on, my foot broke.
And so finally when the car comes to a rest and comes to a
stop and you kind of like open your eyes just a little bit,
like check your surroundings. Like, OK, I'm down here by
myself. Nobody else is around me.

(01:29):
Oh, damn it, there's a fire. So I dropped the window net and
I felt my leg just like kind of dangling there.
So I'm like, well, I'm, I'm just, I'm going to have to pull
myself with my arms and used my left leg.
So I pulled myself with my arms as best I could.
And that's when the safety workers got there and I was
yelling at one of the guys like,hey, my legs are broke, I need

(01:51):
you to lift me out. My legs are broke.
I need you to lift me out. So he got another guy waved
over. And so the two of them were able
to grab me and, and let me down to the ground.
And then one of them was holdingmy leg up while we waited for
the ambulance to get there. What are you thinking when
you're at the hospital? So the right leg didn't really
hurt. I was like, oh, OK, it's not
bad. That's you're just in your

(02:13):
body's in shock, right? And you you have a compound
fracture which. Is like.
You know Alex Smith or Joe Theismann?
Every stop and go, every speed up and slow down with the
ambulance was just excruciating pain in the right leg because
now I can feel it going back andforth like.
Were you concerned? Your career might be over. 1st
of it, I was like, I wonder if Ican still race tomorrow.

(02:34):
And then I was like there's no chance I'm going to race
tomorrow. So then I was like damn, I
wonder if I'm ever going to raceagain, you know?
And I'm like, man, maybe my career is over and you know,
you, you just never know. What was your lowest point
through that whole process of recovering?
There was a point where I was like, I'm going to make it back.
I'm going to be fine. But you still have that those

(02:57):
low moments, you know, like it'sjust you and your wife and your
little dog and you're sitting there watching TV and all of a
sudden you just start bust out in tears.
Like those low moments. I think they strengthened myself
though, too, because like, once you snap out of that low, you're
like, where's the therapist? Let's go.

(03:20):
You know what I mean? So it was a whole wave of
emotions that were just weird. Sonoma, take me through that
race because that's the one thatat Locust.
Joe Gibbs, your brother everybody brought up is kind of
almost more significant than thechampionship.
Yeah, so coming back from injury, being able to get back

(03:41):
in the car, you have to stop forcing it so hard.
Like I was wanting to force thismovie star type return where I
won so early after coming back and it's a miracle and or I'm
the best there ever was or whatever.
So I was like, stop being a dumb.
My leg was fine. I didn't feel anything wrong
with my leg, but my left foot, Istill had all the plates and the

(04:02):
screws in it. So it's still swollen and I'm
like, there is no way I'm going to make the race on Sunday.
Like it's never going to happen.Like I can't do it.
So we didn't have a backup driver, but so I was like, I'm
going to have to do it. So I was just powering through
the last, I think it was a 8 laprun to the finish and passing
the guy here, there, wherever and I was able to take the lead.

(04:25):
And from there I just I ran likehell, like legend car race 1999
Kurt behind me run like hell. And I remember after taking a
checkered flag, my foot felt like it was going to fall off.
I mean, it hurts so bad. I had to take my shoe off and
just go to Victory Lane barefoot.

(04:46):
And that was that was it. We won.
Although I know the 2019 championship, you might have
been able to enjoy it more. Explain the satisfaction of
winning the 2015 one. There's fans out there, there's
historians of our sport that mayor may not say that I should
never have been eligible for thechampionship because I didn't
run a full time season. I missed 11 races.

(05:07):
When I came back, NASCAR was like, yeah, if you make it top
30 in points and get a win, we'll give you a medical waiver.
So I got a waiver and we won thechampionship.
And I remember going through Turns 3 and four and as I was
coming out of four, like there'sa a tear drop that rolls down my
eyes. Tonight, he earns his first Cup
title. Besides my son being born and

(05:28):
that emotional time laying in the hospital bed with Samantha
in our living room, it was like,wow, this just I, I don't know
that I've never felt anything like that before.
It was crazy. One quick favor before you
leave, please consider giving the podcast a rating and review.
Those go a long way in helping us reach new listeners.

(05:48):
Thanks for your support.