Gluck: With Sonoma win, Kyle Busch continues to defy the odds
SONOMA, Calif. — Samantha Busch's lip trembled as she wiped a tear away from behind her fashionable sunglasses.
Simply talking about what had just happened — her husband Kyle's return to victory lane four months after he badly broke his right leg and left foot in a crash at Daytona International Speedway — was enough to leave her feeling quite emotional.
"It's his biggest win," Samantha told Paste BN Sports after Kyle Busch's victory in Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway. "Just seeing him in Daytona with that bone sticking out and not knowing if he'd ever race again, it's overwhelming."
NASCAR has a way of producing the most unlikely storylines at times, and Sonoma only added to the sport's unpredictable nature.
It once seemed unfathomable Busch would even be racing again by the time the series returned to Daytona next week. He required hospitalization, surgeries and months of intensive rehab, but he returned sooner than anyone imagined with hopes of somehow making the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
NASCAR agreed to waive the requirement that Busch participate in all races — he missed 10 of them — but kept the stipulation he would have to win and make the top 30 in points to be a playoff driver.
And Sunday, in the race which Busch and his team thought would cause him the most problems — it hurts his surgically repaired foot to slam on the brake for three hours — he checked the most difficult item off that list.
"That's pretty amazing," Jeff Gordon said. "That's a great story. He's quite a fighter and quite a competitor. I'm proud of him for how he's handled the whole situation. That's a great win for him; I know it means a lot."
But the story is far from over. Unlike most race winners these days, Busch's victory did not clinch him a spot in the Chase. Now he will have 10 weeks to make up a 136-point deficit to 30th-place Cole Whitt, which probably means averaging a top-15 finish.
His average finish so far this year is 24.8.
"It's extremely hard," Busch's team owner Joe Gibbs said. "Last year, we raced ourselves to death and Kyle averaged 17th (17.6), so it shows you how hard this is. We've got a tough assignment."
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How tough? Two recent races showed how hard it might be.
In his second race back, at Dover International Speedway, Busch was headed toward a top-five finish when he tangled with Brian Scott and crashed.
At Michigan International Speedway two weeks later, Busch tried to pass on the outside of a restart just as a freak rain shower popped up, and he spun and crashed on the suddenly wet track.
Those two finishes — 36th and 43rd — probably cost him a combined 60-70 points. As a result, he's likely out of mulligans.
"I certainly put us in a hole bigger than it should have been at Dover and at Michigan," Busch said. "Those were entirely my fault, and I've got to be better than that. We can't have any more of those. That's obvious. We've just got to be smart about how we race."
But a Chase berth is at least possible, which is more than anyone would have thought when Busch lay in a Daytona Beach hospital bed four months ago. Sunday's win was a victory for Busch's supporters, who have been through more twists and turns this year than exist on the Sonoma road course.
"It was emotional," said his older brother Kurt, who went to victory lane and embraced Kyle after finishing second. "I know he's been through quite a bit. To have your leg broken, your foot shattered… I'm very proud of Kyle for what he's done to get back in the car as soon as he did."
The next 10 weeks will be like a mini Chase for the No. 18 team, and Busch's fate might come down to the final laps of the Sept. 12 cutoff race at Richmond International Raceway.
"Certainly it's feasible," Busch said. "There's no reason why it shouldn't be."
After Sunday, would anyone really dare to count him out?
Follow Gluck on Twitter @jeff_gluck
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