Kyle Busch: NASCAR’s ‘Rowdy’ hero

A teenage sensation

Dale Earnhardt was known as ‘Ironhead’ and ‘The Intimidator’ — for good reason. The same can be said of Busch and his nicknames: ‘Rowdy’ and ‘Wild Thing’. They kind of say it all.

Busch was born into racing. He followed in the wheel-tracks of his father Tom and older sibling Kurt — who admitted his kid brother was quicker. When they collided at the 2007 All-Star Race it’s said they didn’t speak for a year.

Kyle had made his NASCAR debut in the Craftsman Trucks series at Indianapolis in 2001, when Jack Roush called him up as a substitute aged just 16. NASCAR subsequently changed the rule to a minimum of 18, leaving Busch benched until 2003.

Once of age, Rick Hendrick picked him up, and Kyle was quickly up to speed. In NASCAR’s second-tier stock car series he won five races and finished runner-up in the standings in 2004, was granted a promotion to the premier Cup for 2005 and won four races that first year, but split from the team in 2007.

As he later admitted, he was a “firestorm of emotions” back then. He was out of what was generally considered NASCAR’s best team. What next?

Thriving with Joe Gibbs

Fortunately, the self-destructive reputation didn’t put off Joe Gibbs. He gambled on the driver from Las Vegas for 2008, and the faith was repaid when Busch delivered Toyota’s first win in the Cup.

The following year he won the second-tier championship, known at the time as the Nationwide league, now dubbed the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. Then in 2015 he won his first premier Cup title, adding a second in ’19.

In total, Busch won 63 Cup races, leaving him ninth on the all-time list. The final three landed with Richard Childress Racing, for whom he drove during what turned out to be the last four seasons of his life.

But his tally in the second-tier series is the most of anyone by far. Busch won 102 races in what years ago just happened to be known as the Busch series after its then-sponsor. The next best is Mark Martin, on 49.

Busch also holds the record for most Craftsman Truck wins. Just a couple of weeks ago, on 9^th May, he scored his 69^th and final win, at Dover.

Tributes pour in

In such circumstances, it’s no surprise that an outpouring of tributes followed the dreadful news last week. Among those to pay respect was four-time Cup Champion Jeff Gordon, who raced as Busch’s team-mate at Hendrick between 2005-07.

“Kyle was a fierce competitor who demanded the very best from himself each time he put on the helmet,” said Gordon. “As team-mates, I saw first-hand the passion and intensity he brought to the sport every single day. He was a champion and prolific racer who made a tremendous impact on NASCAR and was a lifelong advocate for all forms of motorsports.”

Even those with whom Busch had clashed over the years were quick to voice their sorrow. “Kyle and I had a really challenging existence for many years,” said Dale Earnhardt Jr. “But we luckily took the time to figure out our differences and that was something he instigated with a conversation in his bus around how we each managed our racing teams. I was super-eager for us to get on better terms. But it was he who made the effort for that to be possible. I will never be able to make sense of this loss but I am thankful that we had found a way to become friends.”

Then there were words from Joey Logano, Penske’s three-time Cup Champion: “Kyle and I have been tough competitors,” he said. “We didn’t see eye to eye on everything, but there was a mutual respect for each other’s talent. The bottom line is he is one of the best drivers to ever sit in a racing car, and he impacted our sport in so many ways. Such a huge personality. It’s a really big reminder of how fragile life is.”

Remembered at the big races

NASCAR was racing at Charlotte this past weekend for the Coca-Cola 600, one of its annual highlights. As ever, life goes on in the face of such personal tragedy. But NASCAR’s tribute was touching in its simplicity. The governing body allowed Busch’s team to be the first and only to unload their car in the garage on Saturday morning, as members of the other teams gathered to pay their respects.

At Indianapolis, where Busch won the Brickyard 400 back-to-back in 2015 and ’16, his name flashed up during the Indy 500, replacing the race order on the famous scoring pylon on lap 18 — his race number in the Cup.

Meanwhile, donations continue to flood in to a foundation created by Busch and his wife Samantha to support couples seeking fertility treatments. The fundraising page for the Samantha and Kyle Busch Bundle of Joy Fund has been inundated with “In Memory of Kyle Busch” donations for $18.08, a reference to both race numbers Kyle used during his 26-year career.

All we can do is express our own respects and condolences to his wife and two children, united with the rest of the global motor racing community in a sense of disbelief that such a man is gone, in such circumstances and at such a young age.

Images courtesy of Getty Images.