Late NASCAR Driver Kyle Busch Had a Fitting Message After Winning Final Race
Late NASCAR driver Kyle Busch gave a fitting answer to a question from Fox Sports 1 reporter Amanda Busick after his final race.
"Why do these moments never get old, Kyle?" Busick, 39, asked him on the track after he won the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series' Ecosave 200 on Friday, May 15.
"Because you never know when the last one is," Busch replied.
Busch died at age 41 on Thursday, May 21, one day after he was reportedly found unresponsive in a racing simulator at Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina. A newly released 911 call revealed he was "coughing up some blood" and experiencing "shortness of breath" around 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 20.
He was taken to a hospital and his family announced Thursday morning that he had a "severe illness" and would not race this weekend in the Coca-Cola 600.
On Thursday evening, NASCAR announced that Busch had died.
"We are saddened and heartbroken to share the news of the passing of Kyle Busch, a two-time Cup champion and one of our sport's greatest and fiercest drivers," the organization said in a statement via X. "We extend our deepest condolences to the Busch family, Richard Childress Racing and the entire motorsports community."
Busch is survived by his wife, Samantha Busch, son Brexton, 11, and daughter, Lennix, 4.
Designated a future Hall of Famer in a subsequent statement from NASCAR, RCR and the Busch family, Kyle was a two-time Cup Series champion who also owned more wins in the Truck Series and NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series than any other driver.
As news of his death began to spread, fellow drivers, including his rivals, publicly shared their condolences.
"I made him earn every victory and stole a few from him along the way," Brad Keselowski shared via X on Thursday. "We took our shots at each other, in the media and on the track. But I'd like to think that somewhere deep down there was an appreciation that we pushed each other to perform at the highest level, even if neither of us would've admitted it."
Keselowski, 42, continued, "Tonight, I feel a little like the coyote with no more roadrunner to chase. His loss is all of our loss, but none more so than his family's. Thinking of Samantha, and Brexton and Lennix who lost their father today."
Dale Earnhardt Jr. struck a similar tone, acknowledging his ups and downs with Kyle as he remembered him.
"Kyle and I had a really challenging existence for many years," he wrote via X. "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."
Earnhardt, 51, continued, "We did some media together also to laugh through some of the things we put each other through many years ago. Most recently we had even been discussing him running my Late Model at Wilkesboro this summer. He seemed extremely happy and we had planned to meet up next Thursday to get his seat to the shop. He laughed over the idea of his fans and JRM fans having to cheer in unison during that race."
He concluded, "My heart is broken for the Busch family. I will never be able to make sense of this loss but I am thankful that we had found a way to become friends."
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This story was originally published May 22, 2026 at 10:40 AM.