Busch crashes; breaks leg, foot

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Kyle Busch broke his right leg and left foot in a vicious hit Saturday into a concrete wall during the Xfinity Series race. He’ll miss the Daytona 500 today and is out indefinitely.

Busch sustained a right lower leg compound fracture and left mid-foot fracture in the crash with eight laps remaining. Joe Gibbs Racing said he had surgery to repair his left leg, was resting comfortably and will remain hospitalized for observation.

Later Saturday night, NASCAR’s final appeals officer upheld Kurt Busch’s indefinite suspension for an alleged domestic assault on an ex-girlfriend last fall. It means the Daytona 500 will not have one of the Busch brothers in the field for the first time since 2000.

Matt Crafton, a two-time Truck Series champion, will replace Busch in the No. 18 Toyota on Sunday in the season-opening Sprint Cup Series race. It will be Crafton’s Daytona 500 debut.

Busch’s injury occurred when his car slammed head-on into an interior wall that did not have an energy-absorbing SAFER barrier. It’s a similar injury to the one suffered by Tony Stewart in an August 2013 sprint car crash, but not as severe as Stewart’s was a double compound fracture.

Stewart missed the final 15 races of 2013, couldn’t get in a race car until February, 2014, and underwent a fourth surgery in December to replace the rod in his leg. He walked with a limp for more than a year.

Stewart tweeted that he “felt terrible” for his former teammate. “He’s tough and will bounce back soon. Thinking about you bud!” the three-time NASCAR champion posted.

Busch was taken to a hospital, and NASCAR announced an hour later that Busch won’t race today in the Sprint Cup Series’ season-opening Daytona 500.

As Busch was being treated in a hospital, older brother Kurt was in front of NASCAR’s final appeals officer trying to get his indefinite suspension lifted.

Stewart-Haas Racing will use Regan Smith in the Daytona 500 as Kurt Busch’s replacement.

Ryan Reed won the race, his first career national series victory, in the debut event for Xfinity as sponsor of NASCAR’s second-tier series.

Reed passed Brad Keselowski for the lead on the last lap to grab the win.