One of the greatest to ever do it.
The NASCAR world is still in shock over the sudden loss of Kyle Busch, who passed away yesterday at the age of 41.
According to reports, Busch collapsed on Wednesday during a simulator session at Chevrolet’s race shop, and was rushed to the hospital after becoming unresponsive.
Busch was a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, and at the time of his death was the winningest driver in NASCAR history, scoring 69 Truck Series wins, 102 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series wins, and 63 Cup Series wins – a record that will likely never be broken.
Tributes have been pouring out from the racing community since his death, but there’s no doubt that his passing hits a little harder for his team owner Richard Childress.
Busch moved to Richard Childress Racing as the driver of the #8 car in 2023 following 15 years with Joe Gibbs Racing. And at the time, it was somewhat of an unexpected mood, given the history between the two: Back in 2011, Childress and Busch had gotten into a physical altercation following a Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway in which Childress had famously taken off his watch before punching Busch and putting him in a headlock.
Childress was ultimately fined $150,000 for the incident, but the two were able to get past their differences years later when the opportunity came along for RCR to land one of the most talented drivers in the Cup Series. In fact, during his introductory press conference with RCR, Childress and Busch joked about the incident as the owner presented his new driver with his “signing bonus”: A Rolex watch.
Of course this is the second time Childress has had to deal with losing his top driver. Back in 2001 he was the car owner for Dale Earnhardt when the NASCAR legend was killed during the 2001 Daytona 500, a situation that has led many to point out the eerie parallels between Childress unexpectedly losing two of the greatest drivers in the sport’s history during the later part of their career.
And in an emotional tribute to Busch, his RCR teammate (and Richard’s grandson) Austin Dillon spoke about the similarities between Busch and Earnhardt on the track – something that didn’t go unnoticed by his grandfather.
Dillon recalled first reaching out to Kyle about potentially joining RCR:
“When I made the call, your response was hilarious. You asked, ‘Do you think your Grandpa would want me?'”
And as it turns out, Childress had the same reaction to the possibility of Busch joining the team:
“I had already checked with my Grandpa, and his response was the same as yours, ‘Do you think he would want to come to RCR?'”
Well it worked out, and Dillon says that as Busch’s arrival to RCR approached, his grandfather began comparing Busch to the late, great Dale Earnhardt:
“When we got closer to signing, I could tell how excited my grandpa was. I started hearing things like, ‘He’s the only guy I’ve ever seen drive like Dale. He takes no prisoners.’ That made me happy, knowing my grandpa had a driver that got him fired up the way Dale did.”
Obviously Kyle was aware of Earnhardt’s records, and even spoke in the past about hoping to reach his win total before hanging it up.
Unfortunately he’ll never get the chance, and Childress is once again facing the unimaginable prospect of losing one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history in the middle of the season.
When Earnhardt passed away, Childress called up Kevin Harvick to drive his renumbered car the rest of the season. Prior to Busch’s death, the team announced that O’Reilly Auto Parts Series driver Austin Hill would pilot the #8 car this weekend, but it remains to be seen who will fill the seat for the rest of the year and whether the team chooses to change the car number like they did after Earnhardt’s death.
Either way, I can’t imagine how it feels for Childress to have to go through this twice, losing two NASCAR legends.
