The way Kyle Busch dealt with a serious on-track injury in 2015 was one of the aspects of his career that team owner Joe Gibbs will remember most.
In the season-opening NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Daytona International Speedway, Busch crashed into the inside wall in Turn 1 and fractured his right leg and left foot.
On Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Gibbs recalled being at the hospital before Busch underwent surgery to repair the broken bones.
“At that point, he was on a gurney, and the doctor was there,” Gibbs said. “Sam (Busch’s wife Samantha) was there. Everybody was kind of there, and Kyle was raving at the doctor, and he was going, ‘Get me in there. Fix this. I want to get back to racing.’”
To Gibbs, that scene was emblematic of the grit and determination that made Busch so successful.
“So, I just think, as far as courage and determination and a desire to win, I got to tell you, I’m not sure how many people could have or athletes could have gone through that and handled it that way,” Gibbs said.
“So the one thing I always felt about Kyle, that guy had great courage. He was not afraid of almost anything, and he had a burning desire to race. It was just inside of him.”
Indeed. Sidelined for the first 11 races of the 2015 season, Busch returned to win five races and the first of his two Cup champions.
In his honor, all four Joe Gibbs Racing cars in Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race will pay tribute to Busch’s memory.
The No. 54 Toyota of Taylor Gray features the “Rowdy” insignia on its name rail. The No. 18, driven by William Sawalich, bears Busch’s name on both name rails.
Those two numbers carry immense significance within Busch’s legacy. In the No. 54 JGR Toyota, he accumulated 31 of his series-record 102 O’Reilly Series victories.
Busch also used the No. 54 when he fielded his own O’Reilly Series team in 2012. His brother, NASCAR Hall of Famer Kurt Busch, earned the only victory in the car that year, winning at Richmond.
The 18 is the number most closely associated with Busch throughout his NASCAR Cup Series career and much of his O’Reilly Series career with Joe Gibbs racing.
In addition to the Nos. 18 and 54, the No. 19 of Brent Crews and the No. 20 of Brandon Jones will feature Busch’s name on the right side of the respective cars.
In Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600, all JGR and 23XI Racing Cup cars will feature the Rowdy logo on the name rails.
