It did make for a great story.
This past weekend, Kyle Busch’s family was at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the Coca-Cola 600, which was their first public appearance since the NASCAR legend suddenly passed away last Thursday at the age of 41 from complications from sepsis.
He was a legendary driver, one of the best to ever do it, and it’s still hard to believe it’s real. Kyle’s wife, Samantha, and his children put on a very brave face at the 600, along with the rest of Kyle’s family, and I truly cannot imagine what they’re going through. It’s simply devastating.
While tons of stories have been pouring in from friends and fellow drivers, of course, no one knew him like Samantha did, and she started her Certified Oversharer podcast last year, where she shares tons of personal stories about her life and some of the amazing times she had with her husband.
And one I’ve seen floating around since Thursday is about the time Kyle won his second career Cup Series championship, and the time they had celebrating in Nashville at the NASCAR Awards in 2019. Samantha recalled how they were out all night partying, as the should, and how she had the grand idea for them to go get tattoos:
“So it was 2019, Kyle won the championship, and we were partying in Nashville. And at like 2 in the morning, I’m like, ‘We should get tattoos, obviously.’ Well, everything’s closed…”
You can probably see where this is going… someone in their group knew a guy, and they ended up in a not-so-great part of Nashville, at the house of a guy whose living room had just one chair in it, and half of the walls were lined with reptile tanks:
“And at 3AM, we end up in a not so great part of Nashville, at this guys door, at some man’s house with just a chair in his living room. And we walk in, and half of the walls, like floor to ceiling, are covered in reptile tanks, there was about 14 of us. And there’s a hairless cat running around, I mean, it was bad.
We were all… yeah, annihilated. Did not matter. I will say, the best part was, as we’re rolling up, next door, and I’m not a car girl, so I don’t know, there was an El Camino with a 7-foot tall virgin Mary statue behind it. And I was like, ‘Huh, well here we all go. There’s 14 of us, so we’re going together.'”
I’m sure you’re wondering if they actually got the tattoos, and they certainly did:
“I got this tattoo, it was actually very sentimental. It was our babies that didn’t make it, via miscarriage. Because I have a tattoo behind my ear that didn’t hurt, so I, so confidentially, now at like 5 AM, now I’m sobered up, and I just set my hand down there and I’m like, ‘This isn’t gonna hurt.’ It was so bad, you could see I moved my hand, it’s not how it was supposed to be.
It’s fading because he was like, ‘I have to go over it again.’ I was like, ‘No. We’re good.’ I don’t recollect all of it. All I know it, we went out eat still as the sun was coming up. Everybody got tattoos, it was super fun, it was a great time, and none of us got anything weird.
Because I don’t think he wore gloves, it was not… when I looked back, I was like, ‘Wow, that was a really bad choice.’ But when you have 14 other people with out, so I was like, clearly, I can outrun half of them, so I’m golden. I don’t have any sense of direction, so I’d probably be the first one gone.”
That would ultimately be Kyle’s last championship, and while Samantha didn’t reveal what tattoo her husband got, it sounds like that whole night became a very special memory, one she’ll surely cherish even more now, and hopefully those good times can bring her some small sense of comfort in the coming days, which will be the hardest of her life, I’m sure.
For as much as Kyle was a polarizing figure on the track, there’s no arguing he seemed to be an incredible husband and father, and they truly had an incredible life together.
@certoversharer Let’s set the scene… 2019, post @Kyle Busch championship, 3:00 AM in Nashville… 🫣 #tattoo #tattoostory #certifiedoversharer #podcaststory #storytime ♬ original sound – Certified Oversharer
The NASCAR Cup Series will head to Nashville Superspeedway this weekend, racing on Sunday, May 31st at 7:00 pm on Prime Video.
The full podcast is available below.
