The plan was for this to be another reflective, exciting race weekend for motorsports fans at the unofficial beginning of summer.
The Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600, the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” and NASCAR’s crown jewel piece as its longest race, respectively, arguably compose the best racing date of the season.
Fans circle Memorial Day weekend on the calendar and make plans to watch with their closest racing buddies.
However, the list of those we have lost was not supposed to grow just before this weekend started.
The shocking announcement Thursday afternoon that two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch died at the age of 41 after being admitted to the hospital Wednesday night staggered the sport.
Memorial Day was created to honor fallen service members who bravely made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of a country that prides itself on service.
All are heroes.
It is not a day of celebration: It is a remembrance of national bereavement and duty-bound dignity.
Busch, a Las Vegas-born driver for Richard Childress Racing, does not fall into that category of being heroic, but his absence Sunday from the No. 8 Chevrolet will be shrouded in sadness and mourning for a driver who ran the gamut of fandom — from brash upstart to booed villain to revitalized veteran.
Busch burst onto the scene in 2001 while driving in the Craftsman Truck Series for team owner Jack Roush. He joined Hendrick Motorsports in 2003 and moved on to Joe Gibbs Racing in 2008.
After staying there through the 2022 season, he joined RCR, which in itself was interesting after a run-in with its owner.
The winner of the 2015 and 2019 Cup championships, Busch turned many hot laps along the way over two dozen seasons — and turned many drivers as well. He ran hard and rubbed fenders, and he also managed to rub others the wrong way just as his older brother Kurt did with surefire cockiness.
However, that was their way: a hard-nosed, lead-or-get-out-of-the-way, bullish racing style that coincided with the siblings’ obvious talent.
Kurt Busch retired after the 2022 season with a solid list of accomplishments: 34 victories, the 2004 Cup title, and the winner of the 2010 Coca-Cola 600 and 2017 Daytona 500.
But Kyle outgrew his big brother in a big way.
He amassed 63 wins in the Cup Series and 102 in the second-level circuit now known as the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. He notched another 69 in trucks, including his final time taking the checkered flag at Dover Motor Speedway last Friday.
That comes to 234 wins across the top three NASCAR touring series, a record number unlikely to be remotely approached.
With all those wins came enemies.
Busch famously feuded and fought in the pits with Childress, whom the then-26-year-old Kyle did not drive for at the time, at Kansas Speedway in a 2011 incident following a trucks race.
He had a post-race ruckus with Joey Logano on pit road at his hometown Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2017. And he got into it with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in the garage area of North Wilkesboro Speedway after the NASCAR All-Star Race exactly two years ago.
His most recent dispute was verbal sparring in the past month between him and former JGR teammate Denny Hamlin, who was critical of Busch and wondered what his future was going to be as he struggled at RCR.
Always a counterpuncher, Busch handed it back to him, saying Hamlin was clueless and had no idea what he was talking about.
Hamlin now plays the villainous role his former Gibbs teammate perfected from 2015 to 2019 when Busch earned 27 wins. Hamlin is wearing the sport’s black hat that Busch donned so well as angry crowds rooted intensely for his misfortune at every turn on the track — usually as he ran up front.
Busch’s checkered-flag compilation: two-time Cup champion, 234-race winner and owner of more victories than anyone who has ever competed in NASCAR’s three major series.
He is locked in as a top 10 driver of all time who does not have to punch his ticket anymore.
It’s a career that ran strong for most of 24 years but is sadly over after it appeared to have some gas left in the tank and more laps to run.
–Bill Whitehead, Field Level Media
