Denny Hamlin on Kurt Busch's retirement: I love it and I hate it for Kurt

• Nascar

Kurt Busch has retired and that's what saddened many NASCAR fans. Although many suspected that it might come to that, it seems that many were still surprised by his decision. Busch's last engagement was with Jordan's and Hamlin's 23XI Racing team.

It was Hamlin who reacted to the sad news and Busch's departure a few days ago. Talking on his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin emphasized that he is sad on the one hand, but happy on the other. “I love it and I hate it for Kurt.

Certainly, he had his career cut short, shorter than what he wanted, for sure. Really happy for him though, to be able to announce this and kind of get the pressure of, ‘Are you going to come back, are you going to come back,’ off of his shoulders.

He’s been a great asset to 23XI."- Hamlin said, as quoted by on3.com! Although he is ending his driving career, Busch will still be part of the team, but in a completely different role. Kurt has a lot to offer his team, so it's no wonder why they decided to keep him in the team.

“As you know, he’s still been working with the team this year. He will be working with the team again next year. So we have him under contract still, to be our ‘Chief Fun Director.’ So he’s been a valuable asset.

He’s around the race-track. You’ll see him still, here and there. Interacting a lot with our Cup drivers”.

Kurt Busch and his experience

His experience seems to be the main reason why Hamlin and Jordan want him on the team.

Kurt can be of great help to everyone, especially the younger ones who can learn a lot from him. We'll see how Busch does in his new role. We have no doubt that he will be great this time as well. “He’s just valuable because he’s a great manager of races.

He’s the veteran that can help our young guys, continue to help with their learning curve, and he sees things now from the outside perspective, so he can certainly be a valuable asset, to not only them, but to us as well.

You know, he can say, ‘You know, I see this car doing that.’ We’re so focused at 23XI, our engineers and our crew chiefs and our drivers on our cars, that sometimes you overlook other cars. So he’s checking out all that stuff”.