NASCAR: Kyle Busch to have further surgery

NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Kyle Busch will have further surgery in mid-December as part of his recovery from the leg injuries sustained at Daytona at the start of the 2015 season.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver broke his right leg and left foot in a crash during the Xfinity Series race before the Daytona 500 and subsequently missed the first 11 races of the Cup season. He was given dispensation to still qualify for the Chase on race wins provided he got into the top 30 in the championship before the cut-off, and not only did that but went on to win the title in last weekend's Homestead finale.

Busch will now have additional operations to remove the metal plates and screws in his foot and the rod in his leg that were all inserted to help repair the original injury. He hopes it can all be done in a single operation once NASCAR's official championship celebrations are over, with a likely date of Dec. 14 or 15. The 2016 season opens with Daytona practice on Feb. 12.

"When I get the foot surgery done, the doctor made it seem as if once the plates and screws come out, I'll be able to walk on it right away," said Busch. "It'll have to rehab to make sure that all the joints that have been immobilized for the last nine months get woken back up in a smooth fashion.

"Then with the leg, they said I'm going to be down for probably four weeks – just having to re-go-through the knee and to cut the knee open again to pull the rod out, that's going to be the most traumatic part. That has to heal and let the muscle get back together, and the tendon as well."

After winning the title, Busch admitted he feared his career was over in the aftermath of the accident.

"When I had the crash and I knew instantly that the right leg was broken, the left foot was broke, I was really worried," he said. "It was like, 'Man, I'm going to have to go back to laying decals, I don't know if I'm ever going to be able to get back in a car again.'"

He started rehab within 10 days of the crash, but found it "really, really hard" initially.

"I remember the first time Ken [Breath, Busch's physical therapist] came over, and he says, 'We're going to try to stand up today.' And I was like, 'You're joking'. It wasn't even that I could stand on one foot and just try to put weight through my other one. I had to stand on my broken leg and not put any weight on my left foot because the foot was worse. To just get vertical and get back straight up and down and try to stand, it took me three seconds and I started to see stars and was about ready to black out."

Originally on Autosport.com