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Former NASCAR Cup Series champion Kurt Busch opened up about his career-ending crash at Pocono Raceway last year and explained how he made the accident worse for himself.
The 2022 Cup Series season saw the introduction of next-gen cars, which were reported to be rigid and raised many safety concerns. Kurt Busch, who had driven many generations of Cup cars, sustained concussion-like symptoms in the first iteration of the next-gen machinery.
In a recent conversation with Kenny Wallace, Busch expanded into the details of his accident in July 2022. The former #45 Toyota driver admitted that he "exaggerated" his wreck by leaning forward as he anticipated the impact.
"I mean I exaggerated my wreck because I leaned forward knowing I was gonna back in. But it’s like primal fear. If something’s coming from behind, you are like oh man don’t hit me," he said.
The #45 Toyota Camry's rear quarter panels first contacted the wall before the front also clipped the outside barriers. Busch's primal instinct to duck down caused the trouble as he added:
"So my head was away from the headrest and so when I hit, I exaggerated everything. I don’t even remember the car hitting with the right front. Because I was in outer space."
Although at first, the wreck appeared to be just like any other; it had life-changing implications, as Kurt Busch had to miss the rest of the season and couldn't return to racing.
Earlier this season, he announced his retirement from NASCAR after being unable to recover from the incident.
Kurt Busch reckons safety features of NASCAR's next-gen need continuous development
With the introduction of the next-gen cars, there have been increased cases of concussion-like symptoms. Following Kurt Busch's career-ending accident, Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman also had to miss a few races due to a concussion.
This season rookie driver Noah Gragson was also affected by the same and had to withdraw from a race. Busch said the car needs to soften up for some tracks where even small collisions can have disastrous implications.
"That’s where we have got to continue to soften it up at certain tracks. And they did that with the rear clip, they have done that with different headrests and inserts," he said.
The 45-year-old added that the next-gen car withstood high-impact wrecks much better, as it did during Ryan Preece's horrific crash at Daytona. Busch continued the car needed continuous evolution.
"It needs its continued development, I think we’ve seen a lot of cars hit this year and the rear gets crumpled up in a better and a better manner. Let’s just keep working on it let’s just keep committed to it. But the… Tests and the data still gotta be right, you can’t fabricate that stuff, it’s got to be real," he said.
NASCAR has been actively developing the safety features as it continues to make strides in driver safety.
