Said Busch: “It’s like I’m doing everything the same, I’m just not putting the helmet on and going out for practice, qualifying and the race.” “He goes to the racetrack and observes a lot of things and makes lots of notes.” “He’s a big part of our debriefs,” Hamlin said. On Monday, he spent time at the Toyota Racing Development center, where 23XI drivers took laps in the simulator preparing for Saturday night’s regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway. Going forward, 23XI and Toyota plan to continue utilizing Busch in much the same capacity. Recently, Busch served as coach for Japanese driver Kamui Kobayashi, who made his NASCAR debut two weeks ago at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. Calling himself a “mentor,” he’s been working with 23XI drivers Wallace and Tyler Reddick and prospects in the Toyota pipeline, along with sitting in team meetings and imparting knowledge gleaned across 22 years competing in Cup. Since the accident, Busch has focused his attention on being a key cog at 23XI, co-owned by Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan. “It was like when you stand up at the poker table and go, ‘I got two face cards sitting here and I’m going all-in.’ And sometimes you get beat by that river card.” “Even before the car stopped sliding after the impact, I was like, ‘I’m in a different spot, I’m in a different space,’” Busch said. Busch was never cleared, and 23XI Racing tabbed Ty Gibbs to fill Busch’s seat for 15 of the final 16 races. Upon taking a mandatory visit to the infield care center for a medical evaluation, Busch was told by doctors he would need to come back the following morning for a reexamination before they signed off on him competing in Sunday’s race. ![]() Immediately, he said, he knew he was injured. But it’s just crazy how some hits are worse for others.”Īlthough Busch, the 2004 Cup champion, had been involved in several hard crashes throughout the season, this one felt different. “And in all the conversations about the Next Gen car and the impacts we’ve had, it’s definitely hopefully been better since then. It didn’t seem that hard,” said Bubba Wallace, Busch’s teammate. “When I saw it live, I thought he would need to go to a backup car. The crash came in the first year NASCAR began using a new-generation car that left drivers concerned about the impact they felt in a crash due to a front and rear end not absorbing a sufficient amount of energy. ![]() 45 Toyota broke loose, sending Busch hard into the outside wall. The crash occurred as Busch was on his qualifying lap, a lap that had him on pace to win the pole for the next day’s Cup race. So it’s just been one step at a time, one project at a time, and just being able to make sure that this is all the right path and all the right direction I wanted to go anyway. ![]() “It’s where I want to be anyhow, everything just happened a year quicker. “It’s been one of those years where a lot of things changed in a quick hurry, but a year removed from everything now, a year past it, my life now is wonderful,” Busch said. However, he is continuing to experience symptoms related to his vision and balance, issues that have prevented him from gaining the necessary medical clearance to return as hoped. Some of the symptoms Busch experienced in the immediate aftermath following the accident, like issues with short-term hearing loss, are no longer lingering, he says. Instead, he said, it’s been a gradual realization since July 23, 2022, when he suffered a concussion in an accident while qualifying for the Cup race at Pocono Raceway. There was no particular moment when Busch realized that returning was no longer feasible. “That’s been the tough part of the emotional side of this moment and just trusting the doctors, knowing where I sit with my own self and how I look at myself in the mirror and what I need to be doing, and as a 45-year-old, it’s not going to be in the cards to return full time.” Now, 10 months later, Busch is still not cleared and said over the phone this week that he is at “peace with things” and ready to acknowledge that returning to racing on a full-time basis is no longer possible.
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