2004 Cup Series champion Kurt Busch returned to competition this week as he joined a packed lineup for the Race of Champions. He doesn't know if this will lead to other opportunities, but he viewed it as a perfect step for him.
Busch provided comments about a potential return to racing during a discussion with Speedcafe. He said that he would like to get back in anything if the opportunity presents itself, whether it's sports car racing, drag racing, rally racing, or other forms.
"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," Busch told Speedcafe.
"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."
Busch had been out of action since sustaining a concussion in a qualifying crash at Pocono Raceway in 2022. This incident forced him to utimately retire from NASCAR, but he received medical clearance before joining Travis Pastrana for the Race of Champions.
How did Busch perform in this perfect step? He and Pastrana faced off with Supercars standouts Will Brown and Brodie Kostecki in the quarterfinals of the Nations Cup. Busch beat Kostecki off the line but lost the race by 0.7 seconds.
One day later, Busch faced off with Valtteri Bottas and Chaz Mostert in the individual circuit racing category. He and Bottas lost to Mostert, who moved on in the competition.
The Race of Champions is behind Busch, but his future remains uncertain. He doesn't know if he will suit up again for a one-off start in another series, but he remains happy about everything he accomplished in his career.
Understandable, considering his 34 Cup wins, one Cup championship, one Daytona 500, five Xfinity wins, four Truck Series wins, and his sixth-place finish in the 2014 Indy 500.