NASCAR: Kyle Busch makes comment about retirement

As he was getting ready to walk away from his post-Homestead-Miami race interview, NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Busch commented about retirement.

Kyle Busch finished about a half-second behind Martin Truex Jr. in the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida, the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 race. Truex Jr., who won the race, sealed his first career championship as a result of it, and Busch finished in 2nd place in both the race and the championship.

In his post-race interview, Busch was clearly dejected, and as he got up to walk away from the interview after it had concluded, he made that known by dropping a comment about a possible retirement — before next season starts.

When the reporter told Busch he was looking forward to seeing him at Daytona, referring to the Daytona 500 on Sunday, February 18th, 2018, the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season-opener, Busch made his remark about the subject.

"“If I don’t retire first.”"

Skip to 3:15 to watch the discussion unfold.

Seeing as how Busch is just 32 years old and his in his prime having just won the 2015 Cup Series championship and being second to only seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson among active drivers in terms of career Cup Series victories with 43, it is hard to take Busch’s retirement comments seriously.

Busch was clearly dejected after coming so close to winning his second career Cup Series title and becoming the 16th driver in Cup Series history to win multiple titles, so it is understandable that he would say something suggesting that he might retire, as the emotions and the overall disappointment that he was experiencing at that moment were evident.

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Coming up just a half-second short of a second career championship after fighting so hard all season long for all 36 races dating back to the Daytona 500 in mid-February over nine months would leave anybody feeling like Busch did and probably still does. He simply chose to express it in a way that made it seem like he doesn’t want to race any more, which again, is likely due to being overcome by the emotions of the moment.

I along with most of the racing world have a hard time actually believing that Busch is considering retiring before the 2018 season starts given how good he has been and still is as well as the fact that he is still just 32 years old.

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Was Kyle Busch just messing around, or is the 32-year-old really considering retiring from the NASCAR Cup Series before the 2018 season after 13 seasons as a full-time driver in the sport?