She’s unfortunately knows all too well what Samantha is going through.
On May 21st, 2026, NASCAR legend Kyle Busch sadly passed away at the age of 41 due to pneumonia that progressed into sepsis. It was very sudden, and he left behind his wife, Samantha, and two children, Brexton (11) and Lennix (4), as well as his parents and fellow race car driver in his brother, Kurt Busch.
It’s just so incredibly sad, and my thoughts and prayers continue to go out to his family who have experienced such a devastating tragedy. Samantha has shared a few posts since his passing, mostly thanking fans for all of their support:
And there’s another woman in racing who knows intimately the pain Samantha is going through, and that would be Heather Gibbs, who is a co-owner and executive at Joe Gibbs Racing, one of the premiere powerhouse NASCAR race teams.
She is also the widow of former JGR Vice Chairman and COO Coy Gibbs, who was the son of team owner and legendary sports figure Joe Gibbs, as well as the mother of current NASCAR Cup Series driver Ty Gibbs.
Many NASCAR fans know the story, but Coy suddenly and unexpectedly passed away in his sleep on November 6th, 2022. The family never publicly announced an official cause of death, but it very sadly occurred just hours after watching Ty won the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship race at Phoenix Raceway. Coy was the co-owner, vice chairman, and chief operating officer of Joe Gibbs Racing, and his older brother, J.D. Gibbs, also died at the age of 49 in 2019 following a long battle with a degenerative neurological disease.
Heather stepped up following the death of her husband into an executive role at JGR, and during a recent appearance on the Business of Motorsports podcast with Kelley Earnhardt, who is a bad*** executive at Jr. Motorsports, which she co-owns with her brother Dale Earnhardt Jr., and she opened up about comforting Samantha just days after Kyle passed, considering she had been through something tragically similar.
The Gibbs family are all very strong Christians, and Heather encouraged Samantha (as much as she could) that it would be “awful,” but she would find her strength as long as she leaned on the Lord:
“I got to spend time with Samantha a day or so after losing Kyle, and I told her, she’s like, ‘What’s it gonna be like?’ And I’m like, ‘It absolutely sucks. It’s awful.’ And my heart broke so much but I said, ‘Your kids are gonna watch you, and you’re gonna find strength.
You’re not gonna have it on your own. You have to have a relationship with the Lord, you have to trust in Him because He’s gonna sustain you no matter how upset you are with Him right now.’
And it’s okay, because we were made to have emotions, but He’s gonna walk with you through the darkest moments, which we’re in right now, and through the highest moments, and back to the dark moments.”
Heather knows all-too-well that if you don’t have that foundation in Christ, you become “bitter and empty,” and there’s nothing or no one on this earth that can fulfill that. Plus, they are both moms, and Heather told her that her kids learned an important (albeit incredibly unfair and horrific) lesson through the tragic loss of their dad: that it’s “a moment that we’re here” and “this isn’t forever”:
“And if you don’t have that foundation, you’re gonna be lost, you’re gonna be bitter, you’re gonna be empty, and no one on earth can fulfill that. And I think for my kids, also understanding that our home isn’t here, you know, we’re not meant to be here forever. Our home is in heaven.
And knowing it means so much more to me now. I grew up in a Christian family, and growing up understanding, grandma and grandpa are in heaven, but when you have someone, your beloved that is there, I wanted to understand every part. What is he seeing? What is he under? You know, what what’s going on? And it counts so much more.
And I think my kids have seen this is a moment that we’re here. Work hard, be relentless in everything you do, show compassion to everyone, but this isn’t this isn’t forever.”
Amen to that…
I can’t even imagine trying to comfort someone going through such a sudden and heartbreakingly unexpected loss, especially considering how young Kyle and Samantha’s kids are, but it sounds like she has someone she can really lean on, who has sadly been in her shoes, in Heather.
The road ahead will certainly be difficult, but Samantha has been very open about her faith and it sounds like that’s what both of these incredibly strong women leaned on to put one foot in front of the other even in the face of utter tragedy:
The full interview is available below.
