Kyle Busch Reveals Gruesome Cut Leg Injury In Smoke Detector Incident

Kyle Busch revealed on Samantha Busch's Certified Oversharer Podcast that he suffered a gnarly slice to his left leg prior to the start of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Kyle Busch revealed on his wife's podcast that he suffered a gruesome cut to his left leg in an incident at their home just days before the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

In an alternate universe, there's a chance that Kyle Busch didn't compete in the 2026 Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium, and potentially the Daytona 500. And it's at this point that I'm sure you're wondering what I'm blabbering about.

On this week's episode of Samantha Busch's Certified Oversharer Podcast, Busch revealed that he suffered a gruesome slice to his left leg in a totally innocent incident at the couple's home the day before the originally scheduled date of the race at Bowman Gray.

Busch set the scene by explaining there had been a smoke detector that was chirping at their residence, and he and his wife sought out to find which one needed a new battery.

"We find out it's the one above, right outside Brexton's room," Busch explained. "It's a shorter ceiling than normal, so I'm like, I'm so close. Like I can almost reach it. I grab this little stool, I see this little stool, again, it's a foot-and-a-half tall, it's about 18 inches tall. It's all I need."

As Busch grabbed the little step-stool to change out the battery in the smoke detector outside of his son's room, there was no way he had any idea how the rest of his evening would turn out.

"So, I put the stool down, and I get up on the stool, and as I'm reaching up with my second arm, the stool explodes," Busch recalled. "Like, I go from 18 inches off the floor to just a straight down to the ground. And I land on my feet, and I'm holding onto the walls, like I'm good. Everything's fine. I'm alright."

Except he wasn't alright, and everything wasn't fine.

"So, Brexton comes out and is like, 'Dad, you're bleeding,'" Samantha Busch said.

Expecting nothing more than a mere scratch, Busch looked down, and was shocked at his discovery.

"And as soon as he said you're bleeding, I look down, and I look, and it's not like you're bleeding like a nose bleed. It is pouring, like you're gushing," Busch said. "I was instantly, I was like, this is hospital-grade."

Immediately, the Busch family packed up in the car in the middle of a historic winter storm in the Charlotte, North Carolina area, to get medical attention for Kyle's leg. They propped Busch's leg up on the dashboard of their car and packed the wound with garage towels.

As they arrived at the hospital, Samantha Busch notes it was a seemingly quiet night in the ER, likely due to people staying in their houses during the snowstorm, and that the ER was going to have a Physician Assistant stitch up the gnarly gash in Busch's leg.

"She got freaked out," Kyle Busch chuckled.

Samantha explained that the reason for the PA's freakout was the severity of the cut mixed with the fact that her stitching could impact Busch's leg, and ultimately, his driving career.

"She got freaked out because they realized Kyle was a driver, and she was like, 'Oh, shit, I don't want to mess up his leg.' When they lifted up his leg, like, he's not kidding. This flap was down, and it was just gushing. We were like, 'Eww.' The doctor then came in, and after they made sure there wasn't any porcelain in your wound. And it missed your muscle by like barely anything."

Busch quipped that it only sliced the fat in his leg.

While it's not recommended for the squeamish, the Certified Oversharer Podcast included photos of Busch's leg injury in a video excerpt from the interview shared on social media:

@KyleBusch needed 24 stitches just days before the NASCAR season opener 😳
You’ll want to hear this story.

New episode of Certified Oversharer out now. Listen on your favorite podcast platform. 🎙️
WATCH HERE: https://t.co/LPsi2394dx#nascar #kylebusch #certifiedoversharer pic.twitter.com/Ux5QfsSrD9

— Certified Oversharer (@certoversharer) March 10, 2026

According to Busch, this incident at his home happened the night before the originally scheduled date of the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium. Obviously, the race was moved from Sunday, February 1, to Wednesday, February 4, due to the winter storm.

That allowed Busch to recover enough from the injury on Saturday evening to compete in the exhibition event for Richard Childress Racing.

Fortunately, it was just a gnarly gash and was able to be stitched up without any problems. Busch would go on to finish 19th in the 23-car field in the Clash at Bowman Gray. Busch would then score his first-career Daytona 500 pole and would finish 15th in the Great American Race.

Four races into the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, Busch sits 20th in the championship standings.

Had the piece of broken stool sliced through the muscle in Busch's leg, who knows how long the driver could have been on the shelf with an injury?

Busch's story just goes to show that you don't have to be doing anything wild, crazy, or even be outside of your own home for a traumatic event to occur. All it takes is an 18-inch tall step stool and a chirping smoke detector.

For those looking to listen to the entire Certified Oversharer episode featuring Kyle Busch, the entire episode is available in the embedded audio player below: