Kyle Busch And How He Changed NASCAR In 2015

Kyle Busch had a magical 2015 season filled with accomplishments but there is one accomplishment that he is not getting enough credit for.

From overcoming his brutal leg injuries at Daytona earlier this year, to how he still made the Chase and ultimately won he Sprint Cup Series championship that has long alluded him. In 2015 it’s safe to say that Kyle Busch has accomplished more than even he thought was possible. Unfortunately for Busch, there is one thing that he has accomplished during the 2015 season that he isn’t really getting much credit for.

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Believe it or not, Kyle Busch was what made NASCAR watchable throughout the 2015 season.

Sure, other drivers had great storylines of their own, like Dale Jr.’s triumphant return to restrictor plate stardom, Martin Truex Jr.’s monumental comeback, and Jeff Gordon’s hunt for a fifth title in his final season. However at the end of every race, everyone couldn’t stop talking about Kyle Busch and his comeback from injury.

The reason for this was simply that the storyline, unlike most storylines in the sport of NASCAR, was a true underdog story. Not only that, it was the first storyline in a long time that was easy for new fans to follow. You didn’t have to know Kyle Busch’s failed attempts at a title in the past, you didn’t have to know how many races he won, all you needed to know was that he was injured earlier in the year and was still tenaciously chasing his first ever Sprint Cup title.

Let’s be honest here, NASCAR hasn’t had a lot of underdog stories over the years. Yea, there was Kurt Busch making the chase with Furniture Row Racing in 2012 and Trevor Bayne’s Cinderella moment at Daytona in 2011, but neither of those moments were long enough for new and old fans to really get behind.

The championship picture hasn’t been a very relatable story in recent years either. We’ve seen a few good championships stories here and there, like Tony Stewart winning his first championship as an owner and Brad Keselowski battling Jimmie Johnson for his first title. Those moments were great but those moments were the exception to the usually lackluster storylines that shaped the sport in recent years.

There are two reasons for this, the first is the fact that while we know that NASCAR is bleeding with vibrant and colorful personalities, it is very difficult to showcase these personalities from behind the wheel of a stock car. This problem makes it difficult for fans to take interest in the storylines being presented because it’s hard to see the real emotions behind the story being told. The second problem lies with the invention of the Chase format that they instituted in 2005.

While the chase was a welcomed break from the runaway title victories that plagued the sport in earlier years, the new format bred a new kind of monotony that would hurt the sport even more. Instead of a champion that could run away with the title weeks before the final race at Homestead, fans would now have to suffer through five full seasons of seeing the same champion take the podium at the end of the year.

This of course caused a great deal of complacency and boredom inside the sport of NASCAR and for very good very reason. Why would new fans want to come watch the same guy win the title ever single year and why would regular fans care either? Loyal fans were getting the same thing year after year and that’s one of the things that hurt the sport most.

Going back to personality, Jimmie Johnson didn’t have a lot of that either at the time of his five straight title victories. Yes, he’s shown a little bit of personality since, even getting into a scuffle or two in recent seasons, but at the time didn’t have a lot of personality to make him attractive to fans. This only made things worse for NASCAR from a fan standpoint.

Fortunately for fans of the sport NASCAR was hard at work at a silver lining. A silver lining that most fans vehemently despise to this day, but still one that has actually helped the sport in many ways as well. This was of course the introduction of the new Chase format in the winter of 2013. Not only was it a way to give NASCAR more of a playoff feel, it also was a way to bring out more personality from the drivers of the sport.

While the new format is nowhere near perfect, it has allowed NASCAR to inject a lot more personality into the sport. The stakes were now higher, the racing was more intense, and the tempers between drivers was at an all-time boiling point. This is exactly what NASCAR needed, but it was only half of the winning formula they would need.

The next part of the formula came from the comeback story of Kyle Busch. A story that might have been over-played in the media throughout the season, but it was also a story that new fans could finally connect with in a way that they couldn’t before. This is mainly due to the fact that NASCAR hasn’t had a lot of comeback or underdogs stories in the past few years, which is one of the things that can make sports almost magical.

Let’s face it, from the moment that Kyle Busch returned to action, the stage was set for something pretty magical. Not only was he surprisingly competitive from the moment he returned from rehabbing his injuries, his story of still having a chance at the championship was catching like wild fire with fans new and old. Seriously, you couldn’t even log into Facebook without seeing something about Kyle Busch from someone on your friends list. The man was simply inescapable and that trend only continued when he locked himself in the chase with only a few weeks left to go in the regular season.

While we know the result of Busch’s 2015 season, what still remains a mystery to some is why this was such a good thing for the sport. Believe it or not, and trust me a lot of fans probably won’t, it has everything to do with how Kyle Busch has essentially completed his transition as the next Dale Earnhardt in NASCAR. Crazy I know, but just think about it! Earnhardt was a man that dealt with a lot of injuries during his storied career, but still found a way to come back and win like no one before him. He may have been hurting, heck there are even stories about how his crew had to take his fire suit off for him in later seasons, but Earnhardt was a fighter and he continued to do what he loved most.

Same thing with Busch. He was hailed as a villain for a while in his the earlier parts of his career, won constantly with moves on the track that would rival the late great dale Earnhardt and then had to overcome a horrible injury that humbled him in the end. This is the Dale Earnhardt story reincarnated, and that’s one of the reasons fans subconsciously flocked to it so quickly.

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Another reason for Busch’s newfound popularity in the sport and its slew of new fans, is the fact that Busch was able to complete his comeback story. He got injured at Daytona, returned during the all-star race, won his first race of the season and Sonoma, stayed in the Top-35, and survived the chase all the way to his first championship. He did it all!

Whether we like it or not, Kyle Busch changed the sport in ways that most fans probably cant even begin to understand. He is the perfect mix between hero and villain, loved and hated and of course, talent and ego. The question is now what he does next with these skills at his disposal.

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