Kraft's Korner: What can we expect from Busch?

Posted on May 15, 2015 by RJ Kraft

Examining returns from significant injuries across other sports

Editor’s Note: Kraft’s Korner will offer a take on a current hot topic in sports.  

The heavily anticipated news of Kyle Busch‘s return from injury came down earlier this week.   

Busch’s return to the No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing had been the subject of much speculation in recent weeks with young sensation Erik Jones filling in for him at Kansas. But now that we know when the 29-time Sprint Cup Series winner is returning, what can we expect?

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Busch will have been out for roughly three months when he gets back in the saddle for the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race (Saturday, 7 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM) and he has missed 11 points-paying races. He does, however, have a waiver for the Chase, meaning he needs to a win and finish the regular season in the top 30 in points to make the playoffs.

With a new rules package in place, not to mention getting his body used to driving a car for races ranging from 220.5 miles (Watkins Glen) to 600 miles (Charlotte), there will be some sort of adjustment period for Busch.

Busch is arguably in the prime of his career as he just turned 30. And that leads one to wonder how he will bounce back after suffering a compound fracture in his right leg and a broken left foot in the NASCAR XFINITY Series opener in February at Daytona.

How have stars in other sports bounced back from a lengthy time away from their sport?

We look at five case studies:

NFL: Tom Brady, Quarterback, New England Patriots: In the opening game of the 2008 season, Brady tore both his anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament and missed the season. At 32, Brady returned to win the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year Award in 2009, throwing for 4,398 yards and 28 touchdowns. He was the NFL’s Most Valuable Player in 2010.   

NBA: Derrick Rose, Point Guard, Chicago Bulls: A season after winning the NBA’s MVP Award, Rose, 23, tore the ACL in his left knee in the 2012 playoff opener. He sat out all of the following season. In the past two seasons, he has suffered a torn right knee meniscus and a right medial meniscus tear. Now 26, the former No. 1 pick has shown flashes of the player he was before the initial injury but has played in just 61 of a possible 164 regular-season games the past two seasons.  

MLB: Buster Posey, Catcher, San Francisco Giants: Posey missed most of the 2011 season after suffering a fractured fibula and torn ligaments in his ankle in a collision at home plate. The following season Posey responded with his best year to date with 24 home runs, 103 RBIs and a .336 batting average en route to winning the 2012 National League MVP at age 25.

  Golf: Tiger Woods. Woods was on pace to break Jack Nicklaus’ mark of 18 major championships before numerous knee ailments (and off-course drama) derailed his shot at being the gold standard on the links. His last major win (and 14th of his career) came in the 2008 U.S. Open, but he has gone winless in the past 27 majors. And while he still is formidable, he isn’t the threat to win every week like he was before the physical ailments.

 NASCAR: Tony Stewart, Stewart-Haas Racing. A sprint car accident at Southern Iowa Speedway left the three-time champion sidelined for the remainder of the 2013 Sprint Cup Series season with broken tibia and fibula bones in his right leg (in total he has had four surgeries). The three-time champion was 42 when the injury happened. In 44 races since, he has just three top fives, eight top 10s and 139 laps led.

The examples above are a bit of a mixed bag. While Busch and Stewart are in the same sport, they were both at different points in their careers when they suffered their injuries. Stewart and Woods have struggled to find their footing in recent years. Busch and Brady are the closest in age at the time of injury and the Patriots quarterback has performed at a high level in recent years (no matter what your position is on "Deflategate"). Posey bounced right back from his injury and is the prime of his career, while Rose is still working to get back to the elite level.

  It will likely take some time to get back up to speed, but it’s hard not to see him finding Victory Lane in one of the 25 points races remaining on the schedule. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has had a knack for getting a win in every full-time season he has run. Perhaps it will also benefit him in the short term to just be focused on Cup duty before adding in other series to his slate.   

Comeback stories are fun to watch play out as fans and followers. And Kyle Busch‘s is only just getting started with his return to the track this weekend. 

MORE: Holly Cain on whether Busch will make the Chase

Posted on May 15, 2015 by

Just .005 seconds separate pair in green-white-checkered finish

CONCORD, N.C. — Driving for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s JR Motorsports, in the organization’s second start in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, polesitter Kasey Kahne won a two-lap drag race against Erik Jones to earn his fifth victory in six starts in the series.

Kahne’s victory in the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway denied the dominant No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota of Jones, who led 88 laps but ran a disappointing second after a late caution forced a green-white-checkered-flag finish that took the race five laps past its scheduled distance of 134 laps.

In his six Truck Series starts, Kahne has five wins and a second-place finish.

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Kahne’s No. 00 Chevrolet, however, failed post-race inspection. NASCAR deemed the front of the truck too low on both sides and too high in the right rear. The sanctioning body will take the truck to its nearby research-and-development center for further evaluation.

If penalties are forthcoming, they will be announced next week.

Kahne’s margin of victory was a mere .005 seconds, tied for second closest in series history behind the .002-second margin of Kyle Busch over Aric Almirola at Talladega in October 2010.

"Jones was really fast," Kahne said. "He was kind of in a league of his own when he could get to clean air. I knew if we could stay back and stay with him (on the final restart), as long as he didn’t get to clean air, it would be all right…

"I was able to side-draft, and it worked out perfect to get back to the line."

Less than half a lap before Jones would have taken the white flag — after Jones made a deft pass for the lead to the outside on Lap 131 — Daniel Hemric‘s accident in Turn 1 caused the fifth caution of the night, sending the race to overtime.

Jones picked the outside lane for the final restart on Lap 138, but couldn’t clear Kahne, who side-drafted Jones’ Toyota Tundra off the final corner and beat him to the stripe.

In the wake of last week’s misfortune at Kansas Speedway, where Jones led 151 of 167 laps but ran short of fuel while leading late in the race, Friday night’s result left the young driver bitterly disappointed.

"It’s really a shame that we can’t bring it home," Jones said. "I really thought tonight was the night. Unfortunately, we just couldn’t do it…

"It just sucks. I don’t know what to say. It just really, really hurts. I can’t believe it, man. I really wanted this one, and it’s hard to come home second."

Interestingly, though Kahne and Jones qualified on the front row, both drivers had to start the race from the rear of the field, Kahne for an unapproved adjustment (changing a broken shock) and Jones for arriving late to the drivers’ meeting.

But by Lap 26, after the first caution, Jones had the lead, a position he maintained until the late caution gave Kahne the opportunity he needed.

Posted on May 15, 2015 by Staff Report

No. 00 JR Motorsports Chevrolet headed to R&D Center

CONCORD, N.C. — Post-race inspection placed a slight damper on Kasey Kahne‘s photo-finish victory Friday night in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

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The JR Motorsports No. 00 Chevrolet driven by Kahne failed inspection after the N.C. Education Lottery 200, failing to meet ride-height requirements on three corners of the truck. The No. 00 measured too low in the front on both sides and was too high in the right-rear portion.

A NASCAR spokesperson said a decision on any penalties for the infractions would likely be reached Tuesday.

Kahne held off standout rookie Erik Jones by .005 seconds in a green-white-checkered overtime finish. The victory, Kahne’s fifth in sixth career starts on the tailgate tour, was JRM’s first in the Camping World Truck Series. It also marked Chevrolet’s 200th triumph in NASCAR Truck competition.

Posted on May 15, 2015 by Staff Report

Danica Patrick wins Sprint Fan Vote

RESULTS: Full results from the Sprint Showdown

Sprint Showdown: Segment 2

Clint Bowyer won the second segment of the NASCAR Sprint Showdown and has advanced to Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway (9 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, MRN, Sirius XM).

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The Michael Waltrip Racing driver was also the 2014 Sprint Showdown winner and went on to finish seventh in the Sprint All-Star Race.

Kyle Larson put up a good fight for the lead, running three-wide with Martin Truex Jr. and Bowyer for the lead at one point. But the Sprint Cup sophomore suffered damage after hitting the wall on Lap 31 and had to head to pit road, ultimately finishing 24th.

Truex Jr. looked strong in the beginning of Segment 2 as well, leading two laps, but got loose and drifted back positions trying to save his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet.

No. 23 J.J. Yeley brought out a red flag just two laps in to Segment 2 when he spun out. Yeley was later penalized for pitting too soon.

It was announced at the end of the Sprint Showdown that Danica Patrick won the Sprint Fan Vote and has earned a spot in the Sprint All-Star Race. This is the first repeat winner of the Sprint Fan Vote.

Tune into the Sprint All-Star Race this Saturday at 9 p.m. ET with TV coverage on FOX Sports 1.

Sprint Showdown: Segment 1

Greg Biffle won the first segment of the NASCAR Sprint Showdown on Friday at Charlotte Motor Speedway and has earned a spot in Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race (9 p.m. ET FOX Sports 1, MRN, Sirius XM).

The Roush Fenway Racing driver started second and led all but one lap in the 20-lap segment. Biffle’s last Showdown appearance was in 2010 where he finished second and transferred to the All-Star Race. The No. 16 Ford driver went on to finish ninth.

Paul Menard started on the pole, but after the first segment was over, the Richard Childress Racing driver was running third.

Austin Dillon, who led Friday’s Sprint Showdown practice, was running consistently in the top five during segment 1 and finished the first session fourth.

Clint Bowyer was running second at the conclusion of segment 1.

Posted on May 15, 2015 by Staff Report

Erik Jones will start alongside Kahne in the front row for tonight’s event

Related: Full qualifying results

Making his 2015 Camping World Truck Series debut, Kasey Kahne earned his first career Truck Series Keystone Light Pole Award of the season on Friday night Charlotte Motor Speedway. Turning his No. 00 JR Motorsports Chevrolet at 181.342 mph around the 1.5-mile oval, Kahne — who led Thursday’s opening practice — will start from the top position later tonight in the NC Education Lottery 200 (8:30 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1).

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Kyle Busch Motorsports’ Erik Jones will start alongside Kahne in the front row, propelling his No. 4 ride at 181.008 mph to claim the second position on the leaderboard. Jones also led Thursday’s final practice at Charlotte.

Rounding out the top five for tonight’s 200-mile event are Jones’ KBM teammate Matt Tifft (180.511 mph), BK Racing owner and Sprint Cup veteran Brad Keselowski (180.499 mph) and NTS Motorsports’ Daniel Hemric (180.270 mph), respectively.

Reigning series champion Matt Crafton advanced to the final round of qualifying and will roll off the grid ninth in his No. 88 ThorSport Toyota.

During the second round of qualifying, Kyle Busch Motorsports’ Justin Boston spun off Turn 4, bringing out the first caution during the three rounds. The No. 54 driver will start 22nd in tonight’s NC Education Lottery 200. The second round saw a bit of chaos in its final minutes, as several drivers failed to complete a lap and GMS Racing’s Spencer Gallagher spun off Turn 4. Gallagher will roll off the grid 18th tonight.

Ryan Ellis, Todd Peck and Brandon Brown failed to qualify for tonight’s NC Education Lottery 200.

Posted on May 15, 2015 by Staff Report

See where every driver will pit Friday at 7 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1

Non-stop on-track activity at Charlotte Motor Speedway required a draw to determined pit stall assignments for Friday’s Sprint Showdown (7 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM).

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David Gilliland will pit in the No. 2 stall, the first one at pit exit heading into Turn 1 with Sam Hornish Jr., Brendan Gaughan and Austin Dillon in stalls 3-5 before the first opening in stall 6.

The top-five drivers in the Sprint Fan Vote are Clint Bowyer, Kyle Larson, Danica Patrick, Martin Truex Jr. and Josh Wise. Bowyer will pit in the 16th stall with an opening in front of him. Patrick is in stall No. 29, right in front of boyfriend Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and behind David Ragan. Truex will pit in stall No. 37 with an opening in front of him at the Turn 4 entrance to pit road. Wise will roll into the 24th stall in between Trevor Bayne and Chase Elliott.

Each winner of the two segments in the Sprint Showdown will advance to the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race (Saturday, 9 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM) along with a Sprint Fan Vote winner, who will be announced following Friday night’s event.

Posted on May 15, 2015 by Staff Report

Four-time champion ‘really honored’ to be selected

Jeff Gordon delivered some news to Miss Sprint Cup Madison Martin in Friday’s live chat from Charlotte Motor Speedway. Turns out the four-time NASCAR premier series champion will be on the cover of the NASCAR ’15 video game.

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This is Gordon’s first NASCAR video game cover since 2009.

"I’m really honored to be on the cover of NASCAR ’15," Gordon said to start the live chat. "Fans talk to me about the detail of them and how they’ve evolved over the years. I love playing video games as well, especially NASCAR games."

The game will be available Friday, May 22 and is available for Xbox and Playstation consoles, as well as PCs.

Martin also pointed out that Gordon was on the cover of the first NASCAR video game in 1994, so his career — which ends, at least in a full-time capacity, after 2015 — comes full circle in the video game realm as well.

"That’s very cool, and it also makes me feel old," Gordon said with a laugh. "The run that I’ve had in this series and this sport has been unbelievable. It’s full of incredible memories and experiences that I will never forget. It all started a long time ago in 1993, my rookie year. Along the way, very memorable things both on and off the track have happened. Being on that first cover, you final feel like, ‘I’ve made it!’ "

Posted on May 15, 2015 by Staff Report

SHR driver will be part of field for Sprint All-Star Race on Saturday night

Danica Patrick was revealed to be the winner of the Sprint Fan Vote on Friday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway following the Sprint Showdown.

That put Patrick in the field for Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, where engine trouble sent her to a 20th-place finish.

The Stewart-Haas Racing driver became the first person to win the Sprint Fan Vote twice, earning the honor in 2013.

Earlier in the week, Miss Sprint Cup revealed that Clint Bowyer (Michael Waltrip Racing), Kyle Larson (Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates), Patrick (Stewart-Haas Racing), Martin Truex Jr. (Furniture Row Racing) and Josh Wise (Phil Parsons Racing) were the top-five vote getters.

Since the Sprint Fan Vote was instituted in 2004, only one driver — Kasey Kahne in 2008 — has won the vote and gone on to win the race. The 12 fan vote winners have averaged a finish of 14.75 in the Sprint All-Star Race.

Previous Sprint Fan Vote winners and their results in the Sprint All-Star Race

Year	Driver	Result
2004	Ken Schrader	13th
2005	Martin Truex Jr.	22nd
2006	Kyle Petty	8th
2007	Kenny Wallace	16th
2008	Kasey Kahne	WON
2009	Joey Logano	8th
2010	Carl Edwards	21st
2011	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	14th
2012	Bobby Labonte	19th
2013	Danica Patrick	20th
2014	Josh Wise	15th
2015	Danica Patrick	20th

Posted on May 15, 2015 by Staff Report

Greg Biffle will start on front row for Friday’s night event

Paul Menard took the pole for Friday night’s Sprint Showdown (7 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM) at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Menard used a fast lap of 189.673 mph in the second of two round of group qualifying to take the top spot.

Joining Menard on the front row will be Greg Biffle (189.660 mph). The Roush Fenway Racing driver topped the opening round at 189.960 mph.

The second row will be made up of Michael Waltrip Racing teammates David Ragan (189.049 mph) and Clint Bowyer (188.298 mph). Bowyer won last year’s Sprint Showdown.

Second-year drivers Austin Dillon and Kyle Larson will make up the second row.

Starting in the first three rows has been a theme of success in recent Sprint Showdowns. Eight of the past 11 winners of this event have started in the top six. The lone exceptions being Martin Truex Jr. (started 11th in 2007 win and started 20th in 2010 win) and Sam Hornish Jr. (started 8th in 2009 win). Truex will start seventh while Hornish will be starting 13th on Friday night.

Danica Patrick will start 8th as she looks to race her way into the Sprint All-Star Race.

Chase Elliott will start 11th as he attempts to get a fifth Hendrick Motorsports car into the field for the Sprint All-Star Race. Should he make the race, it will be a busy weekend for the defending XFINITY Series champion as that series competes at Iowa Speedway with practice and qualifying on Saturday and the 3M 250 on Sunday (2 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM).

The Sprint Showdown will be on Friday night at 7 p.m. ET (FOX Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM). The two winners of each 20-lap segment will advance to Saturday night’s Sprint All-Star Race (9 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM). The winner of the first segment will report directly to the garage at the conclusion of the first segment. The Sprint Fan Vote winner will round out the field for the Sprint All-Star Race.

Posted on May 15, 2015 by Staff Report

In first Cup seat time since Daytona practices, ‘Rowdy’ tops the chart

In his first practice back behind the wheel of his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, Kyle Busch topped the lone practice for Saturday’s Sprint All-Star Race (9 p.m. ET, FOX Sports 1, MRN, SiriusXM).

Busch led the 90-minute session with a fast lap of 188.884 mph to top the speed charts.

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Friday’s practice at Charlotte Motor Speedway was his first Sprint Cup Series action since suffering a compound fracture in his right leg and a broken left foot in the NASCAR XFINITY Series opener at Daytona. Busch missed 11 points-paying races in the sport’s top series and is making his return to action this weekend for the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race on Saturday night. All told, Busch logged 45 laps in the session.

Defending Sprint All-Star Race winner Jamie McMurray (188.396 mph) was second in practice, followed by defending series champion Kevin Harvick (188.258 mph).

Harvick’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate and Kyle’s brother Kurt Busch came in fourth (188.121 mph), while Kyle’s JGR teammate Denny Hamlin (187.696 mph) rounded out the top five.

Qualifying for the Sprint All-Star Race will take place Saturday night at 7:10 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1. Qualifying will consist of three timed laps and include one four-tire pit stop. The aggregate total time will set the starting lineup for the race.

The Sprint All-Star Race will take place at 9 p.m. ET on Saturday. The race will consist of 110 laps and five segments. The first four segments will be 25 laps each and the fifth and final segment will be 10 laps. The winner will take home $1 million dollars.