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Kurt Busch Announces Retirement From NASCAR · Kenny Wallace Media

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  Last year in Las Vegas, where my racing career began, I sat in
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  front of many of you and as one of the toughest and hardest
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  things I've ever had to do in my racing career, and that was to
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  talk about not being behind the wheel of a racecar.
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  After decades spent at a racetrack with helmet in hand
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  preparing to compete, I was forced to take a step back and
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  focus on my health while stepping away from fulltime
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  racing for the 2023 season. It's been difficult, but it has
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  provided me with a different perspective and more time to
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  continue focusing on my recuperation and reflect on all
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  that the sport has given me and all that I still have left to
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  give back to it. Racing at NASCAR's highest level
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  requires every last bit of focus, heart, stamina and
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  determination, and I know right now I can't give what is
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  required to compete at that level week in and week out, so
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  I'm officially announcing my retirement from NASCAR Cup
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  Series competition over the last several months.
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  Being out of the car, I've appreciated the opportunity to
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  remain actively involved with 2311 Monster Energy and the
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  Toyota Racing family and as I can do all that I can to
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  continue and want to do all I can to continue making this race
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  team one of the best in Motorsports.
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  I guess it's fitting that at age 45, my 23 years as a full time
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  driver in NASCAR would culminate in working with 2311 to impart
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  the knowledge I have for our drivers and our team.
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  And as I transition out of the driver's seat, I can't help but
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  feel incredibly blessed to have spent the amount of time I did
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  as a a driver in NASCAR. And I can never have imagined it
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  growing up as a blue collar kid from Las Vegas.
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  So many people have been part of my journey.
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  I want to thank the fans, my family, friends, sponsors and
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  team members. Thanks to everyone who has
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  taught me the different things around the Motorsports world and
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  also for those who have had to put up with me.
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  But and then I want to just thank again everyone that
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  continues to push me to strive for success in this sport.
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  It's time for a new journey and I'm excited to get started.
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  Jerry Jordan kicking the tires on net.
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  You talk about this journey. Can you explain what that
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  journey looks like at this point in time?
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  And you know what it what does the future hold for Kurt Busch?
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  Yeah, it's it's difficult to know which avenues will lead to
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  what here in the shortterm future.
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  Still wanting to get doctor approval and to get cleared.
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  That's the first step. That's what I need to do
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  personally. Then we'll have opportunities to
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  talk to different Motorsports teams, different sponsors and
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  doing other races. But the perspective and taking
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  us a little step back from being in the car every week, The most
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  joy that I've found is that everything is slowed down.
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  For me to help analyze the data, to give advice to Bubba and to
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  give advice to Tyler, the engineering staff, the team
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  members at 2311 like that. It's really neat having all of
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  this current knowledge and having the opportunity to be
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  able to digest it and to give back to this team.
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  So that's that's the shortterm goal.
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  And one more going into this decision, obviously it's very
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  emotional for you and obviously your fans, your family.
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  Can you talk about how you came to this culmination of what the
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  timing and everything to to tell us?
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  Yeah. Again, it's not one moment
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  that's that's led to this, it's it's a few different factors.
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  And my body is just having a battle with Father Time.
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  I've had arthritis ever since I can remember.
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  My gout is flared up so much that I can barely walk on some
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  days, just pushing to get through physical therapy and to
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  continue the workouts. I remember last summer I was
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  trying to not show that emotion and I barely couldn't even walk
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  to the car at Dover because I had to have some shots prerace
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  just so that I could move my knee and move my feet.
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  Those are those moments where things were starting to add up
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  before things happened at Pocono.
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  So Father Time, I'm 45 years old.
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  I'm very happy, complacent and there's nothing that I look back
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  on and regret about having this opportunity at the top level of
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  NASCAR. Alright, we'll go to Bob and
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  then Chris. Bob Parkers, Fox Sports You've
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  said previously that 90 to 95% of your life is normal, but when
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  it's when your heart rate gets elevated is where things is when
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  you've had. Difficulty.
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  Is that still the case? It's not as bad as it was last
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  summer or last fall. I genuinely feel good about the
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  improvements throughout. Call it three months at a time,
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  and then we'll push harder to find other things to help with
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  my vestibular movements and to balance out my core strength so
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  that way, you know, everything is stronger within my system to
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  be able to react at top level speed.
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  Hey Kurt. Chris Collins news Daytona
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  Beach. First of all congratulations on
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  a remarkable career. And so you your your crash that
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  was ultimately the last time you were in the cup car out in
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  qualifying at Pocono that came amidst a series of crashes in
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  the next Gen. car that caused some some head injuries.
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  So I was wondering if you have the chance to observe some of
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  the efforts NASCAR has made to kind of improve that and what do
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  you think about the future of preventing head injuries?
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  In the Cup Series going forward, yeah, it is kind of a Hollywood
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  story ending so to speak. I'm going for poll and in your
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  last race, you know, going out on top.
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  And yes, I I think that NASCAR is is doing all the right things
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  to improve the safety of the car and made quick prompt changes
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  after collecting data on my incident and many others.
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  And it's always something in life where you're trying to
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  improve things and make it better for everyone.
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  And I think NASCAR, the teams and the collaboration that I see
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  between the the DAC, the RTA, NASCAR, everybody's moving in
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  the right direction. All right, we'll go to Claire
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  and then Lee Spencer. Claire B Lang, SiriusXM NASCAR
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  Radio. It's pretty moving to look
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  around this room and see Steve O'Donnell and Mike Hilton and.
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  Toyota Racing Development and David Wilson and your team and
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  your brother back here who came early, by the way, to make sure
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  he was here on time. But what does all this mean to
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  you as far as the feeling you get from the many years you've
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  put into it and the people that are here supporting you in this
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  announcement? I said it wasn't gonna get
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  emotional. There you go, Claire.
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  Thanks. Sorry.
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  No thank you to everyone. I was texting Mike Kelton
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  earlier this week and I said to him I didn't really think I was
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  going to get out of 2002 with as many arguments as we've had.
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  And yet everyone that's in the room thank you, whether it's the
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  sport, our manufacturer, our sponsors, you know, thank you.
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  Mitch Covington, you stood behind me back in 2012 and said
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  we will support you, we will sponsor you, Kurt.
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  And it's been an amazing journey with you guys and to say that
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  you've been with a sponsor for over a decade we're getting
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  close to for 12 years now that's that's been an amazing
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  friendship. Anytime I reference Monster
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  Energy it's like I work for the company and I'm trying to do all
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  all I can to help move product and to create that lifestyle and
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  I can feel and so thank you to the team.
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  Thank you guys. There's there's plenty of
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  stories and fun and wins and losses.
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  But thank you to to NASCAR, you know for for giving me a fair
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  shake at this. There's a bunch of cool trophies
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  at the house, lots of memories and I hope to give back in all
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  the ways that I can moving forward.
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  And one follow up, it's obvious you're a gifted race car driver.
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  But yeah, I've stood out on Pitt Road to watch you work with the
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  team and it's real easy to see what they take from you.
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  I've seen you put sticky notes in the motor coach of where
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  you're putting down tire codes and things like that.
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  What? What is it that you have and
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  what have you found with the team in particular?
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  Because I think there's a lot you can give back, maybe maybe
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  even more than what you gave us a driver.
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  What what is that and what reward do you get from it?
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  I think the foundation that my dad Tom, instilled in Kyle and I
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  from the very beginning about race cars and working on them
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  and understanding every element about the car even before you
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  drive it, that that was a key factor.
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  And then when my dad was putting so much time and money towards
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  our racing, he's working 80 hours a week, we're going to the
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  race track every weekend. And when I started to click and
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  it started to click for me and I started to win races, I I just
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  wanted his job to be easier. I mean, he's my crew chief, he's
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  my car owner, he's a sponsor, he's everything.
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  And I wanted to communicate to him clearly how the car was
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  handling. And I think that's something
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  that I took with me to every race team was just trying to be
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  clear, precise and help them do their job, but also make their
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  job easier for them. And I think that's why I had so
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  much success at all the different race teams.
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  We'll go to leave. Leespencercatchfence.com So you
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  talked that you eventually want to get back into some form of
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  racing. What is it going to take?
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  What is your, you know, PT? What have you look like to reach
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  or attain that goal? Yeah, keep pushing with the
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  physical therapy, the workouts, you know, doctor visits, tests
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  and there is no timeline. I just know I need to feel from
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  right here that I am good and look the doctor in the eye and
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  he'll tell me that I'm good to go and it again, I'll just that
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  was the struggle mentally, emotionally, the the push last
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  summer to try to get back for the playoffs and I wasn't able
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  to make it. That was the toughest one.
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  Now everything's settling in and and whether I drive again or
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  not, there's so many more things for me to do and there's no real
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  timeline. And when you look back, you
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  know, you talk about being that blue kid from Las Vegas.
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  But when you look at what you've accomplished, whether it's the
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  wins, the championship, winning the Daytona 500, you know, can
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  you just talk about the evolution from that, you know,
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  kid that showed up at Roush Fenway, you know, so many years
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  ago to where you are now? Yeah.
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  Being able to win in all of NASCAR's divisions, you know,
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  the the, the ladder system of a hobby stock.
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  You know, a late model, you know, Southwest Tour, cars,
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  trucks went straight to Cup, then came back and did a few
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  races in Xfinity, you know, and have all the wins at all the
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  different style tracks. I I wanted to be a driver that
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  fans could always count on for a good solid run each day, each
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  weekend, whether it's up in New England, you know, those New
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  Englanders embraced me after Ricky Craven and my finish at
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  Darlington. You know the the Midwesterners
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  and the the big push in Chicago and Kansas and Texas.
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  I was just wanted to give them, you know, somebody to root for
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  that they could always count on because I'm pretty much just
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  like them. I'm a blue collar worker that
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  got an opportunity to do something really cool and that's
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  that's that racer racer in me that was able to win 19
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  different years. If I could have snuck that win
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  in at at Sonoma with James Finch's car at Phoenix Racing,
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  the rear end was falling out of it but, and I cannot believe we
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  didn't win at Furniture Row, That's one thing I look back on.
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  We had nine outside polls but we could not finish the race at the
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  end. That would have been 21 straight
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  years, 22 straight years of winning.
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  And I think that would be more so than than Richard Petty's
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  record. So I just missed out on a
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  couple. But it's nothing that I really
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  get stuck on too much. And you know, I was going for my
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  own little stat because I was a baseball guy.
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  I was trying to create this little thing called a 3030 club,
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  which is 30 wins and 30 poles. And I think there's only a few
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  select drivers that fit in that category.
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  And I came up just a little short and maybe that was my
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  improper motivation at Pocono trying to go for pole.
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  But you always got to have goals.
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  You always got to push yourself. And I want to continue to do
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  that with my team, sponsors and everybody.
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  And I thank you all as as a family here because you've
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  helped me grow quite a bit since that the blue collar kid got out
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  of Vegas. We're.
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  Going to go right there to the left.
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  Mike Brodsky, Florida National News Kurt, as you reflect back
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  on your memories being here at Daytona, what are your greatest
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  memories of both being a driver as well as a fan?
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  You know, as a driver I got to race here in the trucks and
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  finished second. My first ever race here, I
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  wrecked about 15 times but somehow kept the fenders on it
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  and finished second. Ran I rock cars here?
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  I've been in the 24 hour race here and finished the podium.
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  I finished second 3 * 2003 2005 2008.
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  My teammate Ryan Newman got in my way and so I had to push him
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  and I never was angry at the track though like there was so
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  many second place finishes and and wrecks and and frustration
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  moments. I was like you know the track
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  maybe I'll win here one day and I was able able to have that
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  opportunity in 2017. So it's a it's a special place
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  here Charlotte, Darlington, Bristol, Vegas you know those
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  are those are my top five but Daytona is is our crown jewel
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  Motorsports NASCAR event, the Daytona 500 and I'm happy that I
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  have the Harley, JRO. Congratulations.
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  Do we have any questions in the press box?
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  No questions in the press box. Do we have any final questions
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  down here, right up here? Deb Williams Auto Week Kurt, as
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  you continue your recovery and work to hopefully one day get
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  back in the car, just to clarify something, will you continue to
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  work with 2311 in A? An advisory role or or helping
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  with that team, Yes, as long as they'll allow me.
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  I made-up my official title this year.
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  I was called CFD. That's coefficient of drag.
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  Really. That's what CFD stands for.
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  But I I renicknamed it captain of the fund department.
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  So that's been a good role. And then as of late though I
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  revised it. I want to become slightly more
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  professional within the group, so I've named myself CVO Chief
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  Vision Officer. Of course it's whatever it
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  means, whatever it means, but I enjoy working with all the
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  departments and being that extra set of eyes and helping our team
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  advance so that we can win more races, be more competitive and
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  have shots at winning championships.
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  Because that's the person who I am and I want to give back to
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  our team. Thank you and thank you for your
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  wonderful career. Thank you.
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  Appreciate it everybody. Thank.
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  You.