It’s not often I get emotional when I write something. Really, it’s only happened twice in my life.
Last Christmas when Greg Biffle went down in that plane. And last Thursday, when I went from hitting golf balls on the range, to eulogizing Kyle Busch.
“This just can’t be real,” I kept thinking as I tried to frantically write something remotely coherent.
I kept waiting for the text from my NASCAR guy telling me it was wrong. He was wrong. To scrap the story, Kyle was still alive.
TWO-TIME NASCAR CUP SERIES CHAMPION KYLE BUSCH TRAGICALLY DIES AT 41 AFTER HOSPITALIZATION
I kept refreshing Twitter, expecting to see a Bob Pockrass post saying Kyle was OK. I kept checking Instagram, expecting to see Samantha Busch post one of those silly videos of her and Kyle that we at one time rolled our eyes at, but, in reality, took for granted.
But it was quiet. Everything was quiet. The NASCAR world was stunned. For folks who weren’t alive when we lost Dale Earnhardt …
You lost your Dale Earnhardt.
I don’t think that’s a stretch to say, by the way. That’s how big Kyle Busch was in this sport.
Look, I know there was a race Sunday night. Daniel Suarez won because NASCAR called the race due to rain with 27 laps to go. I like Daniel Suarez a lot. He finally got him a Crown Jewel. He won a Cup race in a Spire car. I wish today could be about him.
It ain’t gonna be about him. I don’t think anyone is expecting that, right?
We’re gonna do our best to navigate through the reactions and the stories and the memories. We’re gonna talk about Kyle Busch, and his wife, and his two kids he left behind.
Did you see that scene at the track last night? Goodness gracious. Only in NASCAR.
We’re gonna be sad, and angry. We’re gonna laugh. We’re gonna say goodbye to Kyle Busch, as truly unbelievable as that sounds.
We’re gonna try to do what Rowdy did best — put on a show, and maybe give a bow at the end. We’ll see. We’ll try.
Four tires, enough fuel to just get us through, and maybe a bag of M&M’s … or Skittles … or a Rowdy energy drink, even though I think they were discontinued years ago.
I don’t care! Bring them back. We need ’em today.
Monday Morning Pit-Stop — the ‘How Much More Can NASCAR Fans Take?’ edition — is LIVE:
Ryan Blaney gave us the best Kyle Busch story we didn’t know we needed
Where am I supposed to start today? Seriously. How do we want to play this? I’ve already written a long column on Kyle’s passing, and I’ll surely promote that later on. I do need to pay the bills, you know.
But my point is … I’ve just spent the past four days doing all the serious stuff. And the sad stuff. And the painful stuff.
I don’t want to be sad today. At least not yet. I think we should laugh. I always think we should laugh. Has anyone in NASCAR laughed much the past four to five days? I don’t think so.
So, that’s how we’re gonna start this class. We’re gonna first remember Kyle for who he was off the track — an adult-sized child in the absolute best way possible:
WWE FANS PAY TRIBUTE TO KYLE BUSCH, THE ONE-TIME 24/7 CHAMPION
Kyle Busch was so much more than an elite NASCAR driver
Incredible. Just incredible. For years, NASCAR Twitter has used that meme of Kyle Busch lying under the curtain, and I never knew the story behind it.
And it’s perfect.
He just went out with a bunch of the younger guys and tried to keep up, got tanked, and then spent the whole next day lying on the ground while everyone did interviews. So simple. That’s a guy I’d love to hang out with.
Someone who never takes himself too seriously. Someone who just wants to go out with the boys and have fun. Someone who enjoys life.
We all knew Kyle Busch, the NASCAR driver. The two-time champion. The winningest driver ever. The dude who was fiercely competitive on the track, and did whatever — and I mean whatever — it took to win.
But he was also just an all-around good dude off the track, as Ryan said. He’d go on trips with Samantha Busch and dance on tables. He’d get in her TikTok videos. He’d tie one off with the boys and then sleep it off in the media center the next day.
He was the best driver of my generation, by far. But he also loved his fans, and he LOVED to have fun:
Kyle the dad, and Kyle the mentor
Lordy. I can’t believe we lost that guy last week. Still doesn’t seem real. Still doesn’t seem fair. Hell, it’ll never seem fair.
It’s not fair. It’s not right. It doesn’t make sense.
Kyle leaves behind his wife, Samantha, and his two kids — Brexton and Lennix. As is always the case with these things, that is by far the worst part. The kids.
Goodness, I can’t even imagine what the past few days have been like for them. All three were at the track last night before the longest race of the year, and it was one of the most powerful moments I can remember.
NASCAR’S TRUCK SERIES AND O’REILLY AUTOPARTS SERIES HONOR KYLE BUSCH WITH MOMENTS OF SILENCE AT CHARLOTTE
Not only in NASCAR history … but in all sports:
You know, I give NASCAR a lot of grief. I complain a lot. I call them out a lot. It’s all justified, but still, I probably go a little too hard on them at times.
So, I want to commend them here. I thought NASCAR handled it all brilliantly last night. They nailed it. Steve O’Donnell, I thought, was excellent all weekend long. He was promoted to NASCAR CEO one month ago. This was his first real test.
And he was excellent.
If this whole deal has shown us one thing, it’s how close of a family all of NASCAR is. I’m talking about everyone, from the fans, to the drivers, to the owners.
Fans get access to these drivers that they’re not getting in any other sport. We grow up together. We grow close. We meet their kids and their wives and their parents. We consider ourselves part of their family.
You don’t get that in the NFL or Major League Baseball. It’s what makes NASCAR special. The closeness in this sport has always been what made it special.
Scenes from Charlotte and Kyle’s parting message
You see? A family. Who would’ve thought, in a million years, that Bubba Wallace and Rowdy Nation would get along? But it doesn’t matter here. You put all the nonsense aside during times like this. You come together. You help each other out. You get through it together.
That’s what a family does. That’s what NASCAR does best.
From John H:
“Three races. Every one ended under caution. Hate the Cup cars more every time I watch them. But Kyle Busch was my favorite driver, and I loved the tributes to and memories of him. So, in all, it was a pretty good weekend at the track. Very sad. But this was the NASCAR family at its best.”
Amen, John. Absolutely. Today isn’t the day to complain about the racing. We can do that the other 51 Mondays out of the year (and we do!).
But this weekend wasn’t about the racing. For me, it was about NASCAR coming together in its darkest hour, and showing us why we fell in love with this sport to begin with.
OK, a couple more notes from the weekend on the way out:
A couple of things …
- Watching them unload Kyle’s rebranded No. 33 Chevy was brutal. Goodness gracious.
- For those who missed it, Richard Childress said RCR is parking Kyle’s No. 8 until Brexton wants to drive it. I’d circle 2033 on your calendars back at home.
- That Dale Jr. feature was perfect. Nobody captures a moment quite like Junior.
- Last night was the first Cup race since 1979 without a Busch or an Earnhardt? Maybe the most stunning stat I’ve ever heard. Wild.
OK, that’s it for today. It wasn’t the most fun we’ve ever had in these Monday classes, but I think we did OK. I hope everyone laughed a bit. Lord knows we need it right now.
On the way out, here’s Kyle Busch after his 234th and final NASCAR win 10 days ago at Dover. I wrote about it Friday (there’s the shameless plug I promised), but it’s worth listening to one more time.
There’s a lesson here for all of us.
See you next week.
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