HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) – When he crashed into a concrete wall at Daytona, Kyle Busch knew instantly his right leg and left foot were broken.
His first thought was that his career was over.
“I was really worried. I was like, ‘Man, I don’t know if I’m ever going to be able to get back in a car again,'” Busch said. “It did cross my mind, I was thinking, ‘My wife’s pregnant and I got no job.’ I think that’s just the emotion that goes through in that moment.”
Busch completed a comeback for the ages on Sunday when he won at Homestead-Miami Speedway to earn his first Sprint Cup championship. It came nine months after his crash into a concrete wall the day before the Daytona 500 – a wreck that forced NASCAR to make serious safety improvements across the circuit.
Busch watched the season opener from a hospital bed, had multiple surgeries and withstood a grueling rehabilitation program. He wound up missing just 11 races and returned to his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota right before his 30th birthday and right before wife Samantha gave birth to their first child, a son.