Kyle Busch Red Nose Return

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In: NASCAR Cup Series News

He’s back. Kyle Busch is back.

It was announced earlier this week that Busch would make his much-anticipated return this weekend with the running of the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway. The driver of the No. 18 M&M’s Red Nose Day Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) had been sidelined since breaking his right leg and left foot during the NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway in February. After receiving clearance from both his medical team and NASCAR this week, Busch is ready to return full-time to his duties in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

And, it’s just in time.

As part of his return to racing, Busch will pilot a special paint scheme highlighting M&M’s support of Red Nose Day, a major charitable event taking place May 21 to raise money for young people living in poverty in the United States, as well as some of the poorest communities around the world. As one of the world’s most beloved chocolate candies and a leader in colorful fun, it was a natural fit for M&M’s to leverage its brand and humor to help raise money through this partnership.  Fans can get involved by making someone laugh and telling everyone about it with the hashtag #MakeMLaugh. For every laugh, M&M’S will donate $1 to Red Nose Day charities to uplift children out of poverty.

M&M’s brought Red Nose Day to NASCAR for the first time at Kansas last weekend, as well as this weekend in Charlotte for the Sprint All-Star Race, an event tailor-made for having a little fun – something Busch is ready to do.

While Busch has yet to score a victory in the annual All-Star event, he’s always managed to create headlines. The Las Vegas native first left his non-points-race mark on the 2009 edition of the Sprint All-Star Race. NASCAR first instituted short-track-style, double-file restarts for just the All-Star Race that year. After Busch pulled off several bold moves that helped inject plenty of excitement into the race, it prompted NASCAR to go ahead and institute the double-file restart rule permanently for its top three series beginning at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway just three weeks later.

Now the 11-year Sprint Cup veteran is in the headlines again, but for a very different reason. Saturday night’s race not only marks his return to racing, it’s also his first race this season at a track other than a superspeedway. He finished eighth in the season-opening Sprint Unlimited, also a non-points event. This weekend’s All-Star Race marks Busch’s first intermediate track race navigating the new rules package that features less horsepower and more downforce – something that has confounded many on the tour so far this season.

But adaptation has never been a problem for Busch, who started winning at NASCAR’s elite level in his very first season in 2005. While he may need to knock off a little rust this weekend, it shouldn’t take long to tap into his wealth of experience and climb his way back to victory lane.

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