"We want to give him all the time he needs" - Denny Hamlin expresses concern over Kurt Busch's health

23XI Racing co-owner Denny Hamlin is one of the most supportive team owners in NASCAR who doesn't take his driver's well-being for granted. Last month at the Pocono Raceway, Kurt Busch, the driver of the #45 Toyota Camry for 23XI Racing, was involved in a major crash during a qualifying race. Following the crash, Busch was ruled out of racing due to "concussion-like symptoms" that left him unfit to race.

Since then, the 23XI driver has been sidelined as he recovers from the "conclusion like-symptom." The upcoming event will mark Busch's fourth race off the track after he announced that he's still not cleared to race. His boss Denny Hamlin and the entire 23XI Racing team have shown their support and concern for his health.

Speaking to the media in a recent interview, Hamlin stated that, at the moment, Busch's health is more important than the race team and that the team wants to give him all the time he needs to recovers a 100%.

‘‘I’m mostly concerned for his health and not really for the race team. We want to give him all the time he needs. This is proof he’s doing right by his body and making sure he’s back to 100%. Other drivers maybe in the past would have been able to get some tests passed and gone out there and raced. He wants to be 100%. No race or season is as important as your health in the long term.’’

As Kurt Busch recovers, Denny Hamlin upgraded Joe Gibbs' grandson Ty Gibbs to take over the #45 Toyota Camry TRD. So far, Hamlin is not regretting his decision to hire the 19-year-old driver as a fill-in driver. According to Hamlin, Gibbs has done pretty well with the #45 car, putting him in a good position, and he’s impressed with his work.

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How Denny Hamlin has performed in the last three races on different tracks

As Ty Gibbs prepares to make his fourth Cup Series start with the #45 Toyota for 23XI Racing at Richmond Raceway, Denny Hamlin, on the other hand, will be preparing to make a return to the track that turned his season around.

Richmond Raceway was the first track where Hamlin scored a win this season on April 3, 2022. The victory came about after he had posted poor results for several consecutive weeks. Hamlin will be making his second return to the track this weekend, where he'll be hunting for his third win after his last win was nullified at Pocono Raceway due to infractions.

Compared to Toyota Owners 400, where Hamlin began in P13 and emerged as the winner, he managed to secure a good starting position after finishing third in the qualifying race on Saturday 13, 2022. Hamlin had another strong weekend as he finished in P4.

It will be interesting to see how he fares in the Cup Series playoffs.