CONCORD, N.C. — It has been a dark and dreary few days at Charlotte Motor Speedway for this weekend’s crown jewel, the Coca-Cola 600, both literally and emotionally.
After all, the race itself is the last thing on everyone’s minds, including the drivers.
The sudden and shocking death of one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history, Kyle Busch, has left a dark cloud over the heads of everyone within the industry. On Saturday, multiple NASCAR Cup Series drivers walked into the media center for the weekly bullpen session – a scrum for media personnel to gather quotes from drivers. It’s usually a session reserved for the top 25 drivers in points. However, given the circumstances, NASCAR understandably allowed drivers to choose whether to attend this weekend’s media session.
Some opted out, but those who attended shared their stories about the late NASCAR legend.
It brought laughter, frowns and even some tears.
Ryan Blaney
As a driver who raced against Busch through his earliest starts in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, Ryan Blaney had plenty of moments where he learned from one of the sport’s best.
For Blaney, however, his first time racing with Busch came in late model racing on local short tracks.
“He (Busch) would come race with us a little bit, and Brian Ickler was driving for him for a little bit, and I was always around that at a young age,” Blaney told the media. “Like as a racer, you’re just always in awe of what he could do, and I was like, always the guy everyone was chasing, and I don’t think anybody ever put anybody really above him talent-wise, like what he was able to do.”
Blaney’s best story, though, came from a few years later. In his first few years of racing in Cup, he was in Las Vegas for the sanctioning body’s annual awards banquet.
One night, Blaney went downstairs, where he ran into the two-time Cup champion.
“I was in Vegas for the banquet. I believe it was 2017,” Blaney recalled. “Me and some other drivers were going out to go get some drinks, and we ran into Kyle and Samantha [Busch] at the hotel lobby. And, he’s like, ‘Where are y’all going?’ We said we’re going to go find some drinks and have a good time’, And he’s like, ‘Well, can we come with y’all?’, and we’re like, ‘Yeah, man, like, come on out.’
“We had a late night, and the next day was the funniest part. We had a media deal, and we’re like, ‘Where’s Kyle at?’ And he’s laying under a table with a tablecloth draped over him and just his feet hanging out in that yellow, M&M suit, and it was just a funny memory, man. He was an all-around good person.”
Chase Elliott
For Chase Elliott, the memory of Busch was more about their on-track battles. That was especially the case in Elliott’s early Cup career when he was still searching for his first win.
Specifically, he remembered his duel with Busch at Dover Motor Speedway in 2017.
“All the way to him handing me one of the toughest losses, and certainly the toughest loss to that point in my career was at Dover,” Elliott recalled. “I was on that quest for the first win and just how tough that was, and he tracked me down and taught me another lesson that I carry with me today.”
Even after Elliott became one of the sport’s biggest superstars, he still relished those on-track moments he had with Busch. As a driver who got his start after Rowdy became an icon, he knew he was racing against one of the best, and he’ll always appreciate the time he had.
“Beating him in the truck race and getting to do the bow and just how much fun all that was, to any race fan or racer that’s probably my age or younger,” Elliott said. “Who didn’t want to be as good as Kyle Busch?”
Daniel Suarez
Daniel Suarez, a Mexican racer that moved to the United States before he was even fluent in English to start a NASCAR career, had a lot of help from Busch early on.
Both drivers were regulars in the O’Reilly Series, and Suarez, a Joe Gibbs Racing teammate of Busch in 2016, relied on Busch for advice every week, and Busch made sure he was available.
According to Suarez, he may not have been that year’s champion without Busch.
“That was in the Xfinity Series,” Saurez said. “Once I went to Cup, we were competing against each other every week, so he helped me with that stuff, but in the Xfinity Series, he was my mentor.”
“I mean, he was the person that was helping me. He was the person that I can ask for advice. I can call him anytime. So, I can guarantee you that probably without Kyle, I wasn’t going to win the championship because he was that guy grabbing me from my hand and teaching me and helping me.”
Austin Cindric
Austin Cindric, another young driver that started his NASCAR journey racing against Busch, recalled one humorous moment when he was racing in the O’Reilly Series in 2021 at Road America.
“We had been the dominant car that weekend and, natural course of action in O’Reilly race, the caution comes out with 10 to go,” Cindric recalled. “Half the field doesn’t pit, and they’re on old tires, and so it’s me and Kyle and a handful of others basically coming back to the field, and we get run over and get a bunch of damage.”
“Under caution, Kyle starts beating the crap out of my right rear fender trying to get the fender out of the tire so he could race me straight up for the win. Inevitably, the tire ends up going flat, and I have to pit, but that really struck me for someone who wasn’t even a Cup Series driver yet, the type of competitor that he was.”
Kyle Larson
One of Busch’s biggest competitors was Kyle Larson. The two exchanged the top positions plenty of times during their adventures in the O’Reilly Series.
Often, it was Larson that came out on top, but even so, the Hendrick Motorsports driver misses those exchanges the two shared.
“It seemed like there for a handful of years, a lot of Kyle and Kyle shows,” Larson said. “Which was always fun to be a part of. I mean, he beat me like, I mean, for a long time. I think I finished second to him like 11 or 12 straight races in a row, something crazy, but I was never, like, upset about it because it was always a fun challenge. I felt like I was doing something special just to be able to battle with him. At the time, you know, he was dominating the sport in every series, and at the time, I was an underfunded team, so I always felt really good. I enjoyed it.”
“I mean, he made me so much better just from following him and seeing his race craft and all of that. I’ve missed those battles the last few years, as, we’ve had less of them, but I’ll definitely be thankful for everyone that we had before.”
Michael McDowell
While Michael McDowell may not have had many run-ins with Busch on the track, the two often joked with one another off of it.
Most recently, he and Busch were at Talladega Superspeedway when a competitive game of basketball broke out.
And then Joey Logano showed up.
“Kyle and Brexton [Busch] and the kids were all playing basketball,” McDowell recalled. “And he was super competitive and then Joey and his son came over there, and my son Lucas was playing with them. I just have that memory of him playing basketball with him, but also talking trash to Joey, which was a lot of fun, because they sort of had their rivalry, right?”
“But when you’re in the driver/owner lot and your kids are playing, it’s a different environment, and it’s a different setting, but it was just a memory that keeps popping in my head. It’s just, he was at a really special place, I think, in life where he was enjoying being a dad and enjoying to have those moments but still talking trash to Joey.”
Dalton Hopkins began writing for Frontstretch in April 2021. Currently, he is the lead writer for the weekly Thinkin' Out Loud column, co-host of the Frontstretch Happy Hour podcast, and one of our lead reporters. Beforehand, he wrote for IMSA shortly after graduating from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 2019. Simultaneously, he also serves as a Captain in the US Army.
Follow Dalton on Twitter @PitLaneCPT
What I am talking about is Kyle wanted bill Heisel, a pa to meet him for a shot. What should’ve happened was he should have had to report to the infield care center.
NASCAR killed Kyle Busch by not parking him just like they didn’t park bowman when he was throwing up In his car . The Busch family should sue for negligence because drivers won’t get out of cars, its up to the organization. The media doesn’t touch this subject and that is the underlying problem !
What in the f are you talking about?? First of all these drivers are grown men. NASCAR is not their mommy to tell them when they feel good enough to drive. So what whenever someone has a cold or abdominal pain NASCAR parks them??
Even NASCAR’s media members aren’t this stupid
I think you need to step away from the keyboard for a bit. We can debate the dangers of concussions and CTE, and who, if anyone, should be held responsible.
But Kyle died due to pneumonia, which sadly triggered sepsis. This is neither NASCAR’s nor RCR’s fault. Sometimes, bad things simply happen, and no one is to blame.
🤐