The improbable finish to a legendary career gave way to an improbable comeback.
After breaking his leg and foot in the NASCAR Xfinity race the day before the season-opening Daytona 500 in February, the amazing comeback of Kyle Busch concluded nine months later with his first Sprint Cup Championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The 30-year old Las Vegas native held off Kevin Harvick to win the Ford EcoBoost 400 and make his dream of a title complete despite missing the first eleven races of the season and needing a special exemption to make the 10-race Chase playoff.
“I don’t know that anybody could have ever dreamt of this year especially, but to have dreamt of my career path the way it’s kind of gone,” said Busch in the media center after the race.
“It’s certainly amazing to have the opportunity right now to be in this position with Joe Gibbs and M&M’s and Toyota and Adam Stevens. For them all to prepare such a great race car for me tonight, to be able to go out there and perform in this format and to do what we did to end up in victory lane, and to win this championship by winning the race was something special.”
Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M’s Crispy Toyota, celebrates winning the series championship and the race with a burnout after the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 22, 2015 in Homestead, Florida. Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images
Busch’s win and first championship took centerstage after a day of emotion for Jeff Gordon, who was trying to win the championship in his final NASCAR race. It seemed like everyone was rooting for the fairy tale ending as his every move was detailed on the broadcast. Could the impossible really happen?
But as Gordon congratulated Busch live during his interview on NBC, the realization that Gordon’s final race had come and gone without the unbeliveable walk off win was reality. No one would’ve thought it was possible, but it appears Busch’s amazing story of rehab and redemption topped that of the four-time champ.
“I mean, overall I’m still just extremely proud and excited, not only the way that we ran this weekend and this year, but just my whole career,” Gordon said.
“It felt so good to see Rick Hendrick. I wanted to give him that race helmet. I designed that helmet with the intent of giving it to him. He’s so special to me, more than just a car owner-driver relationship, and I was so happy to have that moment getting out of the car with him.”
Former racing driver Mario Andretti, Jeff Gordon, driver of the #24 AXALTA Chevrolet, and Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton pose during pre-race ceremonies for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 22, 2015 in Homestead, Florida. Credit: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
Busch became the second straight first-time champ in the Chase and it was the first title for Toyota in the Sprint Cup series. The title is the fourth for car owner and former head coach Joe Gibbs.
The nearly hour and a half rain delay just added to the drama of Gordon’s final race.
Gordon passed Ryan Newman for fourth on the first lap of the race, but it was Kyle who took the early lead.
The crowd erupted for the first time when Gordon got a great restart on lap 36 and took the lead from Busch, going three-wide with Carl Edwards entering turn two. Gordon was pulling away when his teammate Kasey Kahne brought out the caution with a flat tire.
Harvick passed him back on the outside on the lap 45 restart until a big wreck involving Dale Earnhardt Jr. occurred on the backstretch. After winning at Phoenix, Junior’s season would come to a rough end and a 40th place finish after getting tagged by Clint Bowyer.
Kyle Busch would take the lead on lap 155, with Harvick right behind him. On the ensuing caution Martin Truex Jr. would take a gamble by taking only right side tires.
Truex would fall back under a long green flag run while Busch and Harvick battled for second and the title-winning spot. Busch would hold that second spot behind leader Brad Keselowski.
On lap 215, Truex was the first of the contenders to hit pit road. Busch was able to get out in front of Harvick once again in second. Busch was all by himself behind Keselowski with Kyle Larson in between him and the defending champ Harvick. Time was running out. Harvick was nine seconds behind Busch with 20 laps to go. But a caution came out for debris with 11 to go setting up an duel to the finish.
Busch beat all the contenders off pit road. He would restart on the outside of leader Brad Keselowski with Harvick directly behind him in fourth.
Busch took the lead with a clutch pass of Keselowski and Harvick followed right behind but he didn’t have enough this time around. The pass looked difficult, but not nearly as tough as the odds Kyle would overcome to be in that position.
“Going through the rehab and everything, it was hard. It was really, really hard. It wasn’t even that I could stand on one foot and just try to put weight through my other one. I had to stand on my broken leg and not put any weight on my left foot because the foot was worse. To just get vertical and get back straight up and down and try to stand, it took me three seconds and I started to see stars and was about ready to black out. Just the pain just going through your leg and everything that was going on.”
“We just kept powering through. Kept doing everything as much as we could, as quickly as we could, and you know, were able to power through and get back.”
His crew chief Adam Stevens looked back to February to put the whole year in perspective.
“We had such high hopes for the season and got off on a good start there early in Speedweeks, and then Kyle had his accident, and the wind was certainly taken out of our sails. I was just terrified that he was really, really in bad shape, but he saw his way back through that and got us on the right track, and thankfully we had a lot of help from Matt Crafton and David Ragan and Erik Jones and learned a lot in his absence, and were just ready for his return. He came back strong. So that’s a testament to his hard work and dedication, and got us to where we’re at today.”
It took 11 seasons and whole lot of physical rehab and emotion but it was all worth it.
Kyle Busch, your 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion.
Speed For Thought 