College football and NASCAR! What could be better than that? Kurt Busch joined the College Gameday crew today. With the NASCAR Playoffs starting at Darlington this weekend and the opening weekend of college football colliding, this is a match made in heaven.
NASCAR is so back. When you have College Gameday getting this involved with a collaboration with the sport, it is good for everyone involved. Reece Davis and the crew went to Charlotte Motor Speedway and did some fun pit crew challenges.
However, the big attraction is the 2004 NASCAR champion, Kurt Busch. Recently retired and entering the next phase in his career, this is an awesome next step for Busch.
Of course, Busch made sure to say 23XI Racing is cheering for the Tar Heels, of course. I’m sure the big bossman wouldn’t like it if he started to pull for the Gamecocks. But he gave them a little shoutout as he was surrounded by the fans.
When this paint scheme made a return, many were wondering, why? It made sense in Charlotte and it was a fan-favorite look. Now it is clear – Michael Jordan wants to give his UNC Tar Heels as much support as he possibly can. For the fans to get to see not just one but two show cars and have a NASCAR driver like Kurt Busch there, that’s awesome.
Too bad qualifying and practice are so early today, it would have been great to see Tyler Reddick there in his powder blue firesuit.
Kurt Busch might be the CVO now, but I think he’s still the Chief Fun Officer, too. This role with 23XI is going to be awesome as it goes forward. We’ve seen Busch at Wrigley Field, over at the Isle of Man TT races, and more this year alone.
Kurt Busch is officially retired
Unfortunately, we won’t ever see Busch race in the Cup Series again. His recovery from his injury last season that he suffered during qualifying at Pocono has left too many challenges in his path. At this point, he and his doctors have agreed that this is the best option for him.
Of course, it wasn’t easy to make that decision. After all, Busch has been recovering for the better part of a year now and while he made progress, it wasn’t enough to get back in a Cup car.
This is what Kurt Busch had to say to end his retirement announcement.
“So after 23 years behind the year, and 45 years of living and breathing this dream, I’m officially announcing my retirement from NASCAR Cup Series competition. To the fans, to my sponsors, to my family, and to the million moments that made my dream come true, thank you, and may we all remember dreams really can come true.”
Can we get Kurt Busch from College Gameday to the Pat McAfee Show any time soon? Someone get that done, that sounds like it would be a fun conversation.
More must-reads: