NASCAR champion Kurt Busch issues HUGE statement on racing return after career-ending crash

Former NASCAR Cup Series champion Kurt Busch has spoken out on his long-awaited return to racing this weekend.

The veteran driver hasn't raced since a wreck in qualifying for a 2022 Cup Series race at Pocano, which left him with lingering concussion symptoms and eventually forced his retirement from the series in 2023.

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Following medical clearance over the winter, Busch announced in January that he would compete in the 2025 Race of Champions in Sydney, Australia, which takes place this weekend.

The 46-year-old told Speedcafe this week that he sees the event – which he competed in in both 2014 and 2017 for Team USA and Team USA NASCAR – as his first step back into racing more frequently.

What an amazing journey it has been. To be on this stage and representing Team USA alongside my friend @travispastrana #RaceofChampions #rocaustralia pic.twitter.com/6NR8j7xVZi

— Kurt Busch (@KurtBusch) March 8, 2025

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Will Kurt Busch come back to NASCAR?

He said: “It’s been fun to do some track days, drive different people’s cars, all the way up to a Radical I was doing 170 miles an hour in, so I got all the cobwebs out and the spider webs cleared.

“Yeah, this is the perfect step. I’m not going to go run a Cup car right now at 500 miles side-by-side with all the boys, right? And so it’s just the steps that it takes, and this is the perfect one. And so a ripple effect from this, positive or negative, will open up more doors.”

Asked whether he expects to return to stock car racing, he said: “It’s to get back into anything, whether it’s an opportunity to do sports car stuff, rally, drag racing like I did before. We’ll see. We’ll see what my body tells me and the fun level, you can’t beat that here a Race of Champions.”

He added that he doesn't feel the need to have a NASCAR farewell on his own terms, saying: “My time was getting short anyhow. I was at the end of what I would call my last contract.

“I poured my heart and soul into it for 23 years, won a bunch of stuff, wrecked a bunch of stuff, and all in all I was fulfilled. And so whether it ended there or I get back in the car later on, who knows? It was a good career that I can look back on and go, you know what? Two thumbs up.”

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