Kyle Busch’s family makes appearance at Coke 600. A powerful moment came next
In a stunning moment of tribute, the family of the late Kyle Busch arrived in the infield grass prior to the running of the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday and stood in front of the crowd as NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell boomed a few powerful words into a microphone.
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Most important among those words:
“You are NASCAR family forever.”
There, in the infield, stood those who were connected by unconditional love to Busch, the NASCAR all-time great who died suddenly Thursday at age 41 due to severe pneumonia that devolved into sepsis. They made their first public appearance since that dark day.
There was Busch’s wife, Samantha. She dug her teary face into her 11-year-old son, Brexton, the newly made man of the house who wore a No. 8 hat and a brave face, and whose arm wrapped his mother in a hug. Samantha eventually picked up her daughter, 4-year-old Lennix, who wore checkered-flag bows in her hair. There was Kyle’s older brother, Kurt, whose arm steadied his mother, Gaye, who clung to flowers.
Behind all of them stood the NASCAR community. Chase Elliott wept under his sunglasses. So did Chase Briscoe. Richard Childress, the car owner who gave Kyle a career lifeline in 2023, was among them, too.
In loving memory of Kyle Busch. pic.twitter.com/UvcB5C0oMn
We all lost something, O’Donnell said, reading from cards into a microphone in front of a sold-out crowd at Charlotte Motor Speedway. But his hands didn’t tremble when he explained to the Busch family what they didn’t lose.
A memory.
A legacy.
A family.
“We’ve got you,” he said.
“What I think we’ll miss most isn’t the wins, it’s the guy who quietly wanted to help a teammate or give some advice,” O’Donnell said. “Who’s the husband, the father, or the guy who quietly did things for others when no one was watching.”
He continued: “To the Busch family: Tom, Gaye, Kurt, all the folks at RCR and JGR. We are certainly thinking about you, Samantha. I want you to know that this sport stands with you, and that you and your children are NASCAR family forever. And Brexton and Lennix, your dad loved you with all his heart.”
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O’Donnell went on to say that everyone gathered there has the Busch family’s backs.
“Kyle Busch is NASCAR,” he said. “He was one of a kind. There will never be another.”
Then followed a moment of silence. Then followed the drivers getting in their cars. Then followed the pace laps, the “missing man formation,” with the lead spot on the inside vacant.
Then, on Lap 8, fans stood in silence and put their hands in the air — each hand holding up four fingers. Kyle’s number for RCR was No. 8. It was yet another connection to the late Dale Earnhardt Sr., who for the longest time after his sudden death, every Lap 3, prompted fans to go silent and stick three fingers up.
Perhaps the most powerful moments of all were the ones that fans couldn’t hear. They were the exchanges with the drivers and crew chiefs. One was an exchange between Austin Hill, the replacement driver for Busch this week, and his crew chief. The call was punctuated by something we don’t say enough, that we can never say enough:
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“I love you, buddy.”
