Kurt Busch updates recovery: “Everyday life is normal”

Of course, the elder Busch brother would much rather be out on track competing in this year’s 500.

As fate would have it though, a qualifying crash last summer at Pocono Raceway changed his career path, forcing him to the sidelines with a concussion. He was unable to get back behind the wheel of the race car, and was ultimately replaced by Tyler Reddick for the 2023 season. 

However, should he be cleared to race, 23XI co-owner Denny Hamlin has said that there will be a third car waiting for him. Travis Pastrana is driving that entry in this weekend’s Daytona 500, making his Cup debut.

Busch, 44, won the 500 back in 2017. This month, he is at the track lending his years of racing expertise to his younger teammates.

“There was a moment last night with Tyler Reddick trying to learn how to draft with Denny Hamlin, who’s his boss,” said Busch. “I saw it and thought, I went through that last year in this race. Our debrief right after the race, it’s the thing I did last year with Bubba (Wallace), it’s to advance quicker and to advance smarter and to apply the right things to make sure that 23XI is going in the right direction. I’m not doing it by myself. I’m just an extra set of eyes and an extra set of ears.

“I’m pretending sometimes that I have the blinders on and I’m driving the car. I think you can see with Bubba’s maturity level last year in the second half, other than Vegas when he screwed up, but the way that he took control and had good average finishes last year, his average finishes he had in the second half were better than the average finishes I had in the first half and we put a car in the top-10 in his first season. Those were things that happened at Furniture Row and we saw how they advanced. That’s just what I hope to do with this team and have Tyler Reddick on the gas digging hard and add to his three wins that he got last year.”

Busch was not ready to exit the race car, but he finds enjoyment in his current role with the team. It’s weirdly familiar, except for the fact that he’s no longer racing on Sundays. Mentoring younger teammates is something he’s been doing for a long time.

“Everything just happened a year sooner than I expected them to and I’m happy with where everything sits,” he explained. “Even like Ty Gibbs, with him jumping in the Monster Energy car last year and getting him…