Going into one of the biggest auto-racing weekends of the entire year — both the Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 are Memorial Day weekend classics — the motorsports world is now dominated by a more shocking headline: Two-time NASCAR Cup champion Kyle Busch passed away yesterday at the age of 41.
Born and raised in Las Vegas, Busch followed his older brother (and fellow champion) Kurt into stock car racing’s uppermost ranks. By the age of 16, he’d already made his way to NASCAR, racing in the Craftsman Truck Series — the same series, incidentally, in which he secured his final race win at Dover last weekend. Just three years later, he arrived in the Cup Series and never looked back, driving for some of the series’ top teams — Joe Gibbs Racing, Hendrick Motorsports, and Richard Childress Racing among them — and winning championships in 2015 and 2019.
In recent weeks, Busch had been struggling with a sinus cold and cough, serious enough that he requested medical attention while competing in a race at the Watkins Glen International road course two weeks ago. The Associated Press has reported that Busch became unresponsive while practicing in a racing simulator yesterday and was transported to a Concord, N.C.-area hospital. No cause of death has been confirmed as yet.
Busch was nicknamed “Rowdy,” and he lived up to the name, on the track and off it. He was an aggressive and passionate driver, known for a hot temper and outbursts on his crew radio. While his outspoken nature earned him more than a few jeers from NASCAR fans, lots of fans disliked him simply because he won all the time. Indeed, Busch is the winningest driver of all time across the top three national NASCAR divisions with 234 victories in all, a testament to his ability to be successful in everything he climbed into. On ABC News’ Good Morning America today, long-time teammate Denny Hamlin said of Busch, “To me, personally, I feel like he’s the most talented, gifted and talented race car driver that ever stepped in a car.”
When Busch was interviewed following his final victory last Friday, he was asked why victories are so meaningful for veteran drivers like him. “Because you never know when the last one is,” he responded. It’s a poignant statement given what’s happened in the days since, but it’s also a sobering reminder that none of us are promised tomorrow and that we must make the most of what we have today. Rest in peace.