Kyle Busch set to return for All-Star race

Associated Press

CHARLOTTE, N.C.

Less than three months after suffering serious injuries when he crashed into a concrete wall at Daytona, Kyle Busch will return to racing in NASCAR’s All-Star race this weekend following a rapid recovery his doctors called remarkable.

Busch will run in Saturday night’s event at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He has been sidelined since a Feb. 21 crash in the Xfinity Series opener in which he broke his right leg and left foot in an accident that spurred safety reviews throughout NASCAR.

“I don’t know that anybody would have expected the All-Star Race would have been a place for me to come back when we were laying down in the hospital bed in Daytona and even in Charlotte just days after the accident,” Busch said Tuesday, noting that specialist Dr. Robert Anderson of OrthoCarolina was surprised at the fast recovery. “One of the things I remember hearing from Dr. Anderson ... was that it’s just been a remarkable timeframe in which I’ve been able to make as much progress as I have, as quickly as I have.”

Busch credited therapy sessions that sometimes spanned six hours for being able to heal ahead of schedule. His accident late in the race one day before the Daytona 500, left him with a rod in his right leg and plates and screws in his left foot.

He missed 11 races because of his injuries, which were more severe because he hit a wall that lacked an energy-absorbing SAFER barrier at 90 mph. Busch has said his car left the racing surface and headed toward the wall at 176 mph, and even though he was able to slow it, he knew the impact was likely going to break one leg.

Although Busch removed his right foot from the brake pedal, the impact with the wall was so hard, both his helmet and chest slammed into his steering wheel. Busch said the throttle stop was pushed back closer to him and smacked his right leg, breaking it.

Busch’s No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing was driven by Matt Crafton at Daytona, then David Ragan for nine events and 18-year-old Erik Jones drove it Saturday night at Kansas.

There was speculation that Busch was close to returning when Jones said two weeks ago JGR officials had only discussed the Kansas race with the development driver. Gibbs confirmed Busch had tested a late model car, suggesting he would be back for the two Charlotte race weeks.

The Coca-Cola 600, the longest race on the NASCAR schedule, runs May 24 and the All-Star race is the perfect warmup event. At just 110 scheduled laps split into segments, Busch felt the pace would be right for his return.

“It’s shorter. It’s a non-points event. There’s mandatory cautions after every 25 laps ... it gives you an opportunity to take a breather, take a rest,” Busch said.