May 15, 2015 4 min read

CONCORD, N.C. – Walking gingerly, his mood upbeat, Kyle Busch climbed back into his race car for the first time in almost three months.

He quickly settled into the No. 18 Toyota, got used to his new seat, and ripped the fastest lap in Friday’s practice session for the All-Star race.

Make no mistake, Rowdy has officially returned.

“I didn’t sleep all that great last night and I was wondering why – I wasn’t sure if my body was just thinking I would miss an alarm,” Busch said Friday.

Busch broke his right leg and left foot when he crashed into a concrete wall during the Feb. 21 Xfinity Series race at Daytona. He missed the Daytona 500 the day after the accident and 10 other races, but had his eye on returning for tonight’s $1 million All-Star race during his recovery.

The date seemed optimistic to his doctors, who weren’t quite sure Busch could recover from his injuries in such a fast timeframe. But he was determined, even as he admitted Friday he briefly considered trying to get back for races at Talladega or Kansas before giving himself two more weeks to heal.

“Charlotte looked really good and it seems, so far, to be a good choice to come back for here,” he said. “I think it was kind of always a goal, and whether or not I could meet that goal was just how hard we worked and pushed and tried to get ready for this day.”

Although the All-Star race doesn’t count toward the Sprint Cup standings, Busch will use this weekend as a warmup for the May 24 Coca-Cola 600, the longest race of the NASCAR season.

He’s been granted a waiver to participate in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship should he qualify, which would likely require him not only cracking the top 30 in points but also winning a race.

Busch believes it gives him a solid shot to make the 16-driver field and race for the title.

Biffle, Bowyer make All-Star race: Greg Biffle and Clint Bowyer raced their way into the $1 million NASCAR Sprint All-Star event, and Danica Patrick won the fan vote to complete the field for tonight’s race.

Biffle won the first 20-lap segment in Friday night’s Sprint Showdown. The race was for all drivers not already qualified for the All-Star race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

“I’ve never been so excited to win half a race in my life,” said Biffle.

Biffle then took his car to the garage and watched the final 20-lap segment, which was won by Bowyer. Biffle led every lap of the first segment, but Bowyer needed a three-wide pass to get to the lead.

Once Bowyer was out in front, though, no one could catch him as the clean air for the leader proved too much for any challenger to overcome.

Patrick won the fan vote for the second time in three years. She was upset last year in voting by Josh Wise, who was backed by the Reddit community in a social media push to get him into the All-Star race.

“I am super lucky and fortunate I have such great fans,” Patrick said. “The way I want to pay them back is to have a great race.”

Failing to claim one of the three spots up for grabs Friday night was Martin Truex Jr., who has been one of the most dominant drivers of 2015. Truex has 10 top-10 finishes in 11 races this year and is second in the Sprint Cup Series standings.

But he didn’t have a strong qualifying effort, and it was too difficult to catch the leader once the front car was aided with clean air.

“Just didn’t qualify good enough,” Truex said. “Had that car pull out in front of us and it cost us a lot of time. You’ve got to start up front in these short ones and keep that track position. It’s hard to pass.”