Before Saturday afternoon at Daytona, Kurt Busch had never used the word ‘retirement’ about the next stage in his recovery, instead articulating that he had reached the end of his full-time NASCAR Cup Series career.
It was more than a semantic distinction.
Busch will continue to work towards a full recovery, one that will also allow him to strap behind the steering wheel of a race car, but it will not be a Cup Series car. In his words, ‘Father Time’ caught up to him and has now forced him into formal retirement at the highest level.
The 45-year-old continues to make progress in his recovery from a concussion suffered in July during a qualifying crash at Pocono Raceway but that was one of numerous injuries that continued to accumulate onto the 2004 champion.
The aftermath of his concussion affects Busch the most when he elevates his heart rate, which is something every race car driver endures in the heat of competition, but also suffers from arthritis and gout that frequently prevents him from even standing.
Even if Busch were to get cleared for competition, he feels too much time would have passed and the physical limitations would ultimately prevent him from racing at the 100 percent needed to warrant taking the green flag.
Instead, Busch will continue to work in a consultation role with 23XI Racing, while also serving as a brand ambassador for Monster Energy. Busch will also continue working towards returning to competition in some type of race car should his doctors allow.
“It’s difficult to know which avenues will lead where in the short-term future,” Busch said. “I’m still waiting to get doctor approval and clearance. That’s the first step. That’s what I need to do personally and then we will have opportunities to talk to different motorsport teams, different sponsors and doing other races.
“I’ve gained a lot of perspective from taking a step back and not being in the car every week. The most joy I’ve found is that everything has slowed down for to analyze the data and give advice to Bubba and Tyler, the engineering staff and the team at 23XI.
“It’s really neat having all of this current knowledge and having the opportunity to be able to digest it and give back to this team, so that’s the short-term goal.”
Busch made the announcement in a packed media center at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday. The luminaries included Wallace and Reddick, but also Toyota executives David Wilson and Tyler Gibbs. NASCAR executives Steve O’Donnell, Ben Kennedy and Mike Helton.
Such a scene would have been unfathomable over a decade ago. Once upon a time, before becoming something of a sage veteran, Busch was an often confrontational and quick-tempered personality that got him in trouble with the sanctioning body, press and his race teams.
For example, he was fired from Team Penske after the 2011 season purely because the organization grew tired of the attitude. He spent the next two seasons with the single-car Phoenix Racing and Furniture Row Racing teams while rehabbing his image.
Busch matured a great deal over the past decade and thanked the entire industry for the second chances.
“I was texting Mike Helton earlier this week and told him I didn’t think I was going to get out of 2002 with as many arguments as we had,” Busch said. “And everyone in this room, thank you.”
It was a very lengthy list.
“Thank you,” he said to the media. “You have covered plenty of stories, wins and losses and to NASCAR for giving me a fair shake at this. There are a lot cool trophies at the house, lots of memories and I hope to give back in all the ways I can moving forward.”
Busch won the 2004 Cup Series championship, the first under a playoff format, and added 34 victories along the way. He ended a 23-year career with 28 poles, something that bothers him a little bit, because he wanted to join something akin to baseball’s 30-30 homer, stolen base club but for wins and poles.
His career-ending crash occurred in qualifying while challenging for his 29th pole.
“It’s kind of a Hollywood story style ending, so to speak,” Busch said. “I was going for pole on my last race.”
All told, he also amassed 161 top fives and 339 top-10s in 776 starts but his lasting legacy, remarkably, is the leadership skills he has developed in recent memory — and that’s why Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin brought him to 23XI Racing.
“He’s a great racer, one of the great talents of our sport and he’s accomplished a ton,” Hamlin said. “We were proud of having him join the 23XI family a couple of years ago and still having him now. I certainly love Kurt and love his leadership.”
Busch intends to continue offering that leadership no matter what happens with him availability to drive a race car of some kind.
“Yes, as long as they will allow me,” Busch said. “I made up my official title this year — I was called CFD, which is usually coefficient of drag, really.
“But I re-nicknamed it captain of the fun department. That has been a good role, and here lately, I’ve revised it. I want to be slightly more professional with the group, so I’ve named myself CVO –- chief vision officer.”
Again, a remarkable turnaround for someone who couldn’t see beyond the moment more than 10 years ago. And that was evidence by the applause he received leaving the media center, all the hugs that were given, the last one reserved for younger brother, Kyle.
“I taught you everything you know,” he said with a laugh.
There’s a lot of that wisdom to go around suddenly.
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.