NASCAR Cup Series

Welcome back: Kyle Busch brushes off the rust in Sprint All-Star Race

Published May. 17, 2015 12:26 a.m. ET

foxsports

When Kyle Busch suffered a compound fracture of the right leg and a mid-foot fracture of his left foot in the season-opening XFINITY Series rac e at Daytona International Speedway, few expected the Joe Gibbs Racing driver to return in time for the Sprint All-Star Race.

Yet Busch not only returned for the event at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Busch was fastest in the lone practice session prior to the race and finished Saturday night's non-points event in the sixth spot.

The top-10 finish was not a walk in the park, however, as Busch was forced to overcome penalty for speeding on pit road at the end of the second segment and an unscheduled pit stop on Lap 62 in the third segment.

The unscheduled pit stop for a left-side vibration dropped the No. 18 Toyota down a lap. Busch was able to get the free pass when the caution flew for the end of the third segment and restarted the fourth segment from the 18th spot.

Restarting the final 10-lap segment in the eighth spot, Busch was able to climb to sixth and battle with teammate Matt Kenseth in the closing laps.

Climbing from the car after his first race back, Busch said Saturday night's Sprint All-Star Race was a learning experience all around.

"It was really good," he said. "I learned some things. I think we also learned some stuff, myself and Adam Stevens, about this racecar, for me, and getting around here in Charlotte. So we can take some of that next week and look forward to the Coke 600. All in all it was a good evening."

Just four months removed from his injuries, Busch admitted he would likely be sore after the night, but his therapy helped prepare him for the rigors of racing at the highest level of Sprint Cup competition.

"I'll be sore for a couple days, just muscles that haven't been woken up like this in a little while," Busch said. "It's nothing new. Typically I get that in the beginning of the year anyway. It takes a few weeks to kind of get warmed up to things, your body to kind of settle in.

"Being out of the racecar the longest I've ever been in my career, it's a wakeâup call for myself to get back rolling," he said. "Other than that, just feel fine. I never was out of breath at all during the race or through the runs or anything like that. That was a good thing. I was not worried about it."

Going from the shortest race of the season to the longest next week, Busch said the plan is to run the full Coca-Cola 600.

"I felt like I got out of the car after a hundred laps and I'm fine," he said. "Am I going to die out after 200 or 300? I don't know. The plan is to go the full distance. We'll just hope that the rest of these guys run about 50 percent for the first 200, I can keep up. Maybe at the end we'll all go after it. But I doubt that will happen."