Credit: Noel Lanier
“This is just so unbelievable, so amazing and means so much right here, right now and probably will for a long, long time to come, but just the opportunity that the amount of people that have poured their life and soul into everything that Kyle Busch does and is about – from M&M’s to Toyota to Snickers and Twix and Skittles, STANLEY, Joe Gibbs (team owner) and his family and all of Joe Gibbs Racing, everyone that gave me such a fast race car here tonight to drive. It was so much fun. This is just a dream come true and my family, my wife, my son – to have him this year and to have everything we’ve gone through this year to be in this moment – I don’t know what else to say, but this is so special.”
When Kyle Busch broke a leg and foot back at Daytona in an XFINITY Series crash, everybody wrote off his shots at a championship. Busch even thought that it wouldn’t be possible, as he calls going through the rehab and returning back to the track the hardest thing that he’s ever gone through. Busch credited Tony Stewart, who went through a similar injury, for his help through the process. Busch said he learned a lot about mental strength during that time, and credits his wife Samantha for her support.
“My wife was there to power me through and my dog, Lucy, was barking at me to get me through it too,” Busch said. “I was just trying to get prepared for my son’s birth and make sure that I could be there for the hospital trip and be able to stand and support Samantha and not worry about being in a wheelchair and stuck on the side of the room, you know? That wasn’t what it was going to be all about, so I had a little man pushing for me to get better and it was certainly a lot of things that you learn and there’s certainly a lot of things in life that I don’t know that you’ll ever fully understand and this year is certainly one of those for myself, but it’s so great to be in this spot right now and to count the blessings that we have. I can’t say enough and thank the good Lord above.”
Althrough the process, Samantha was going through her pregnancy after struggling to get pregnant initially. While finishing up his healing, Samantha and Kyle welcomed Brexton Busch into the world on May 18.
“I’ve never dreamed anything so little could be so happy, but he’s such a cool little dude,” Busch commented. “He’s always smiling and always having fun, except about four a.m., that’s daddy time, that’s a little rough. It’s all worth it in the end. Samantha (wife) and I, for what she went through, what we went through this year and to have Brexton (son) this year is pretty cool on 5-18-15 – so cool to have him and have him be a part of all of this here tonight and to celebrate with his father. He won’t remember what this meant today, but maybe one day he’ll understand what it means.”
Busch came back mid-May a week after his son’s birth, completing the requirements to qualify for the Chase – top-30 in points, four wins with three in a row. He then performed throughout the Chase to make it to the final round. Busch completed the puzzle on Sunday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway, scoring the victory to win the 2015 Sprint Cup Series Championship.
“To put it all together and win this championship goes back to JGR – that trophy isn’t mine, this is everyone’s here,” Busch said. “I wanted to come back from rehab and do everything I could do to power through and be stronger than ever for everyone here and pay them back for all they’ve sacrificed in their lives for me.”
With the laps winding down, Brad Keselowski held down the lead with Kyle Larson closing in as Busch ran third ahead of Kevin Harvick. The caution would then fly with 11 laps to go for debris, bringing the leaders down pit road. Keselowski would win the race off pit road ahead of Busch, Larson and Harvick. Starting on the outside, Busch would get the lead through turns one and two to seize the lead with seven laps to go, leading the rest of the way. Busch was surprised that Keselowski chose the inside as the leader, and knew that when the green flag flew, he had to go.
“I think I just got a really good restart and then just got going. I don’t know if Brad spun his tires or what,” Busch added. “We got to turns one and two and we were pretty even, I just looked into four and gave it everything I had those last seven or eight laps. This Toyota Camry was awesome and Adam Stevens (crew chief) made a phenomenal adjustment on the last pit stop to get me exactly what I needed for those last eight laps and drive away.”
For Busch, it marks his first championship, as well as the first championship for crew chief Adams Stevens in his first year atop the pit box. Stevens said making the move from the XFINITY Series to the Sprint Cup Series, he leaned heavily on Busch’s clear ability to explain what the car is doing.
“The total strength of JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) with all the wins we’ve had and how competitive we’ve been – it could be any one of the teams right here right now if you shook the Chase up and reran it again,” Stevens added. “I’m just proud of everyone at home and JGR and TRD for all the total team effort and team work. I’m thrilled to be a part of Kyle Busch’s career. He’s a future Hall of Famer and to be anywhere close to him is amazing for me.”
It also marks the fourth for Joe Gibbs Racing, while being the first championship for M&Ms despite being involved in the sport since the 1990s.
The Chase for the Championship would come down to a battle between Busch, Harvick, Jeff Gordon and Martin Truex Jr. Harvick would finish the race in the second spot while Gordon and Truex finished sixth and 12th, respectively. For Busch, the championship has a little bit extra meaning being this season as it comes in Jeff Gordon’s final season as a driver; Busch grew up as a Gordon fan.
“I don’t know that you could have scripted it any better,” Busch commented. “For him to be in his last year and go out, I wish I could have beat him sooner in that time when he was still running and had another year to go after it. Man, to have a shot with these four final drivers – Martin Truex Jr. is one of the best at Homestead, Kevin Harvick is one of the best the last two years and Jeff Gordon one of the all-time – to go up against those guys tonight and to score this victory for this No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry is phenomenal.”
