Only Yesterday: How Kyle Busch’s 2015 Injury Led to a Championship & Safer Walls

Since the untimely death of Kyle Busch, there have been a multitude of comparisons between he and the legendary Dale Earnhardt. Their natural ability, record-setting levels of success, and prominence at the time of their passing put them having more in common than they have different. 

They have another peculiar similarity: both experienced crashes at Daytona International Speedway that exposed a need for soft walls. While Earnhardt’s was fatal, Busch’s was not, but it still jolted the industry into taking a closer look at safety.

In February of 2015, Busch was entering his 11th full time NASCAR Cup Series season and his eighth with Joe Gibbs Racing. As he had for the majority of his career, Busch intended to run a majority of the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series events that year. The season opener at Daytona would be the first.

Busch started the race in 32nd but found himself battling for the lead in the closing laps. Running in fifth with nine laps remaining, Busch attempted to bump draft with then teammate Erik Jones. The nudge didn’t land just right and Jones’ car broke loose to the left before overcorrecting back to the right. At that point, the Big One was underway and cars began piling up as they often do on a drafting track when something goes wrong.

Busch steered to the right to avoid Jones but had to veer back to the left to avoid a car to his outside. This abrupt turn sent his car into a slide towards the inside of the racetrack. After sliding for what seemed like an eternity, Rowdy made jarring contact with a concrete wall that separated the infield from a grassy area and the track. His estimated speed at impact was determined to be nearly 90 miles per hour. In an instant, a car going almost 100 mph was stopped.

It wasn’t just the force of the impact that was a problem. It was the angle. The wall that runs along the outside of a race track is essentially parallel to the cars when they are moving in the proper direction. This design makes it unlikely that a car will get in a position to hit the wall at a 90-degree angle. But this wall in the infield approaching turn 1 actually ran slightly back toward the racing surface. 

So when Busch slid off of the track with his car at approximately a 70-degree angle, the wall got closer and closer to him the further he went. By the time the No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota reached the concrete barrier, it delivered a nearly perpendicular hit rather than a glancing blow. 

The back of the car was lifted up by the force of the impact and there was no SAFER barrier along that wall. For that reason, the wall absorbed none of the energy in the collision while Busch’s body and car took the brunt of the crash. The result was a compound fracture in his lower right leg as well as small fracture in his left foot and a sprained finger.

The injury sidelined Busch for the first time in his career, as a the trio of Jones, Craftsman Truck Series standout Matt Crafton and David Ragan took turns substituting in his No. 18 Cup ride. They combined to earn just one top-10 finish, claimed by Ragan who wound up fifth at the checkered flag at Martinsville Speedway. 

NASCAR granted Busch a medical waiver so that he would still be eligible for the playoffs so long as he won a race and finished in the top 30 in points. Winning a race seemed likely, but making the top 30 in points would be a challenge as he didn’t return to the car until the 12th event of the year at Charlotte Motor Speedway. 

Crashes in two of his first four starts after returning made the task even more daunting, and it wasn’t long before doubt began to circulate that Busch could meet both requirements. Then the first win came at Sonoma Raceway, followed by three more in consecutive races at Kentucky Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Suddenly, after a runner-up finish at Watkins Glen International in August, Busch moved into the top 30 in points. He remained there, winding up 27th at the end of the regular season.

Kyle Busch stayed ahead of the cut line in each round, advancing to the championship four alongside Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon and Martin Truex Jr. In the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, he waged a spirited battle with Brad Keselowski, trading the lead between them six times in the final 55 laps. But it was Busch who won out, taking the lead for good with seven laps remaining and securing his first series title with the win.

The championship was redemption for not only Busch but the sport as a whole. He had been knocked out of competition by a situation outside of his control that should have never happened to begin with. SAFER barriers had been in place on outside walls for a the better part of a decade but even after cringeworthy hits by Gordon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2008 and Danica Patrick at Daytona in 2012, there were still exposed walls without the advanced protection. Kyle Busch’s injury changed that. NASCAR implemented a new guideline that all exposed walls must have the soft wall technology installed.

It’s hard to quantify how many drivers may have been saved from serious injury because of the changes that came about due to those two horrendous crashes at Daytona, but it’s undeniable that both the walls and the sport are safer because of them.