Richard Childress thought this would go differently.<\/p>\n
The six-time NASCAR Cup Series champion owner<\/a> had planned to have Kyle Busch by his side on the Saturday before the Cup race at Michigan International Speedway. It\u2019d be celebratory. Childress was supposed to share good news: that the driver of the No. 8 car \u2014 the 41-year-old legend of the sport who\u2019d been gaining momentum as of late \u2014 was going to be back at Richard Childress Racing for at least one more season, in 2027.<\/p>\n Read more Suburban Charlotte manufacturer closing, will lay off over 110 people by August<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe wanted to do it up here in Michigan, with our GM friends, with Chevrolet,\u201d Childress said. \u201cAnd it didn\u2019t happen. This is a different type of media availability.\u201d<\/p>\n Indeed it was.<\/p>\n Kyle Busch was not by his side. There were no balloons or photo ops with fake paper and sharpies and ceremonial hoopla. Busch was gone \u2014 a reality the sport of American stock car racing, particularly those closest to Busch, is still coming to grips with<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI talked to him Tuesday night before everything went down Wednesday night and Thursday,\u201d Childress said of Busch. \u201cAnd we had a great conversation. He said, \u2018You give me cars like you gave me the last three weeks, and I will make The Chase (10-driver playoffs) this year. We were both that confident.\u201d<\/p>\n He continued: \u201cWe haven\u2019t had the year that any of us expected or wanted. We started out like gangbusters (winning the pole at the Daytona 500). It just didn\u2019t go. … That\u2019s the tough part of today. Even walking in here, I was thinking: \u2018What if he and I were walking in here together?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Busch died on May 21, a few days before the Coca-Cola 600. The official cause of death was severe pneumonia, which devolved into sepsis and caused multiple other complications. Busch\u2019s death certificate, on file at the Mecklenburg Register of Deeds Office and obtained by The Charlotte Observer<\/a>, states that the sepsis lasted \u201cone day,\u201d and that caused abnormal clotting throughout blood vessels in his body and eventually \u201chours\u201d of hemorrhagic shock.<\/p>\n And throughout the days-that-have-felt-like-months outpouring of shock and sadness and love and more sadness, Childress has been by the Busch family\u2019s side. He was there standing with them at the Coke 600, when they made their first appearance since his death. He also made a profound promise to the Busch family<\/a> \u2014 that Busch\u2019s number, No. 8, is \u201creserved and ready\u201d for Brexton Busch, Kyle\u2019s 11-year-old son, when he\u2019s ready to go NASCAR racing.<\/p>\n Childress has been everywhere, doing nearly anything to help, he said.<\/p>\n But the Cup car owner and fixture in the sport can\u2019t shake something in particular. He can\u2019t stop dwelling on all these unfinished plans, all these unimaginable roadblocks. It\u2019s the same way that he felt in February 2001, when Childress was a close friend and the car owner of Dale Earnhardt Sr., The Intimidator, the titan of the sport whose greatness couldn\u2019t be embodied by a statue in his hometown<\/a> or the seven Cup championships to his name.<\/p>\n Earnhardt had big plans, too, before he suddenly died on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. Childress remembers them.<\/p>\n \u201cThe sad part for me, looking back, is knowing what Dale Earnhardt had in mind, and the plans he had for him and his future,\u201d Childress said. \u201cAnd sitting and talking to Kyle at different times, and knowing his plans and what he (saw) in the future for him and Brexton and his family and the many things that we all could\u2019ve done together. That was probably the toughest part of this whole thing.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s tough to quantify Busch\u2019s contribution to NASCAR. In fact, in many ways, the easiest way to contextualize Busch\u2019s career is to compare his to Earnhardt\u2019s.<\/p>\n Read more Code Orange air quality alert issued for Mecklenburg, other counties Saturday<\/a><\/p>\n The 41-year-old racing icon had 63 Cup Series wins as a driver to his name, ninth-most all-time. Busch also won 234 NASCAR races across all three national series \u2014 the most in NASCAR history \u2014 and added two Cup championships. He did it for a long time, too: He won his first Cup race in 2005 as a 20-year-old and won his last in 2023, notching a win at least once in each of those 19 seasons.<\/p>\n He had skirmishes along the way, no doubt. One of those skirmishes, in fact, involved Childress himself, in 2011 at Kansas Speedway, when the then-65-year-old car owner for an opposing team got into a physical altercation with Busch after an on-track incident. The tussle has since been canonized in NASCAR lore because of what Childress said to his grandson, Austin Dillon, before swinging on Busch: \u201cHold my watch.\u201d<\/p>\n But Busch and Childress made amends in 2023, when they needed each other. Busch needed a race team after not re-signing with Joe Gibbs Racing at the conclusion of 2022; Childress needed another driver. Childress was in the market for a certain driver in particular \u2014 one that reminded him of his late friend and champion, Earnhardt Sr. And Childress got an Earnhardt descendant in Busch<\/a> \u2014 a driver who some considered a villain for his take-no-prisoners style, a father, an all-time great who for the longest time couldn\u2019t win the biggest race of them all.<\/p>\n And, tragically, a legend of the sport who died too soon.<\/p>\n Childress sat up on the Michigan International Speedway media center stage having provided the rides for two of the sport\u2019s generational superstars, and, now at 80 years old, outlived both.<\/p>\n He couldn\u2019t shake the reality Saturday \u2014 and he didn\u2019t hide from it.<\/p>\n \u201cYou lose two of the greatest drivers who\u2019ve ever driven a car in NASCAR, and to have to go through it again, I just feel so bad for the family and the employees and everybody,\u201d Childress said. \u201cI haven\u2019t slept real good lately; I\u2019ll leave it at that.\u201d<\/p>\n Childress continued on about Busch on Saturday, and with every comment, you could tell Earnhardt was on his mind and heart. Among the other things he said: He\u2019d like to see Busch put in the NASCAR Hall of Fame \u201cright away\u201d and have the sanctioning body waive the two-year post-retirement hiatus<\/a> for such an occasion. He hopes to see Brexton have a long and fulfilling career in NASCAR like Big E\u2019s son did. He also planned on Austin Hill running in RCR\u2019s second full-time chartered Cup entry for the rest of the season, running in the No. 33 car.<\/p>\n Hill, like Kevin Harvick 25 years ago, is in a difficult position.<\/p>\n Replacing a legend, with a new number, a new scheme, same sponsors, unbearable circumstances.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a product of two breathtakingly difficult changes of plans \u2014 both of whom Childress has had to navigate through.<\/p>\n \u201cBack then (in 2001), I told Bobby Hutchins to call NASCAR and get the lowest number available, and it happened to be No. 29, when we put Harvick in it,\u201d Childress said. \u201cAnd we talked about it, and we decided that Austin Hill was the one we needed to put in it at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n