Kyle Busch: Getting better all the time

Kyle Busch sits on pit road prior to qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 5-Hour Energy 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 17, 2015 in Loudon, New Hampshire.
Kyle Busch sits on pit road prior to qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 5-Hour Energy 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 17, 2015 in Loudon, New Hampshire.
Kyle Busch sits on pit road prior to qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 5-Hour Energy 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 17, 2015 in Loudon, New Hampshire.

LOUDON, N.H. – For a race car driver, winning often is enough to take one’s mind off pain and discomfort, but even when he’s not visiting Victory Lane, Kyle Busch says the residual effects of the crash that sidelined him for 11 weeks is certainly tolerable.

Busch broke his right leg and left foot in a Feb. 21 accident at Daytona International Speedway but has won two of his last three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts after returning to action at Charlotte in May.

“Winning cures all and it seems like last week at Kentucky (his second win), the good runs we had there, my foot has felt a lot better,” Busch said on Friday before opening Cup practice at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. “(But) I wouldn’t attribute it to that. Early on, I probably mentioned at Charlotte that I wasn’t dealing with much pain, and I really wasn’t. There’s times where it flares up and it gets bad, and you have some good days and you have some bad days.

“The more and more we get going here, the more and more good days I seem to have. Just trying to get through the inflammation and stuff like that, that I had in my foot and ankle, and everything has gotten a lot better. To be honest with you, I feel 100 percent behind the wheel of the car, and I can push the brakes real well – I think we saw that at Sonoma (his first win this year).”

The excitement of leading the race at the road course in wine country masked the discomfort Busch started to feel late in the race.

“I started to feel a little bit of pain with about 25 (laps) to go,” he acknowledged, “but then you get the adrenaline to take over and get going when you’re having a shot at the win, and you don’t feel anything until the next day afterwards, when everything kind of calms back down.

“Last week at Kentucky, everything went real well, real smooth, actually. Got out of the car and walked around for all the media stuff afterwards and didn’t really feel any ill effects. It’s getting better.”

Greg Engle
About Greg Engle 7421 Articles
Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community. Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.