It’s been a whole week, but the NASCAR industry continues to struggle grasping the sudden and unexpected passing of two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, Kyle Busch, who passed away May 21 after complications from severe pneumonia turned into sepsis.
Busch has been a larger-than-life figure in the world of NASCAR and professional motorsports for more than two decades, and in the process, has touched and inspired hundreds (if not thousands); between his mind-boggling success on-track, and his off-track successes, both as a father, and a business owner (with his race team, Kyle Busch Motorsports).
Instead of the usual excitement, hustle, and bustle surrounding Charlotte Motor Speedway and its Memorial Day Weekend festivities, this year, the environment was eerily silent, somber, and heartwrenching, as NASCAR went to the racetrack, for the first time in a long time, sans Kyle Busch.
The day before the Coca-Cola 600, instead of NASCAR’s usual mandatory media obligations, the sanctioning body left it up to the drivers on whether they wanted to speak to reporters. What followed was some of Busch’s biggest adversaries, closest friends, and drivers that he assisted coming through the ranks, coming to the Media Center to tell heartwarming stories about the fallen driver.
RELATED: Joe Gibbs Reflects on Special Moments from Kyle Busch’s JGR Tenure
It was a cathartic experience for a community of industry members, teammates, and fans who came together to mourn and celebrate the life of one of the best drivers to ever step foot in a NASCAR Cup Series vehicle.
All of these off-track stories that we heard last weekend at Charlotte, the ones about Busch and his life-of-the-party personality and quick wit, are the things we don’t get to hear much about, and definitely not as much as we hear about the on-track stories and accolades.
But, those on-track stats… man, are they legendary.
#SrigleyStats honors Kyle Busch with a comprehensive stat book about the NASCAR legend:
From the very beginning of his storied career, rules were created because of Kyle Busch.
In 2001, when a 16-year-old Busch stormed onto the scene of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, NASCAR quickly ruled that all drivers competing in the series must be at least 18 years old, putting an end to the Las Vegas, Nevada-native’s short stint with Roush Racing.
Busch would have to wait nearly two years (until May 23rd, 2003, 21 days after his 18th birthday) to make his return to NASCAR, starting fifth and finishing second in his NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series debut with Hendrick Motorsports. From there, things took off in the craziest way…
Running full-time in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series for Hendrick Motorsports in 2004, Busch won five races, the fifth of which came at Michigan International Speedway in August. That victory made 19-year-old Busch the youngest five-time winner in series history – a record which stood until last July, courtesy of Connor Zilisch.
After a season in O’Reilly, Busch was promoted to the NASCAR Cup Series. He, of course, found immediate success, winning the pole for the 2005 Auto Club 500 at Auto Club Speedway, just his eighth start at NASCAR’s highest level. That pole position, at the age of 19 years, 9 months, and 25 days old, continues to (jointly) hold the record for the youngest pole-winner in Cup Series history (with Joey Logano).
Busch’s first win in the NASCAR Cup Series would come about six months later at that same racetrack. Now, flash forward nearly two decades, and the legend would break a major record at Auto Club Speedway in 2022, becoming the first driver to EVER win a race in 19 consecutive Cup Series seasons.
That (2005) was also the season where Busch scored his first NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series victory and marked the start of a 17-year run where on 16 OCCASIONS Busch won races in the NASCAR Cup, O’Reilly Auto Parts, and CRAFTSMAN Truck Series – something only six others have done, and nobody has done more than three times.
Maybe the biggest turning point of Busch’s career, though, was a move to Joe Gibbs Racing in 2008 (who had recently partnered with NASCAR’s newest manufacturer, Toyota) to drive what is now known as the iconic M&M’s-sponsored No. 18. Well, wouldn’t you know, it took FOUR WEEKS for Busch to put Toyota in Victory Lane for the first time, one of 56 he would put on the board for the automaker (second most to only Denny Hamlin).
That Memorial Day Weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Busch captured his 15th win in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, making him the youngest driver to reach that milestone (a record that stood until Joey Logano won his 15th in 2012). Then, on Independence Day Weekend at Daytona International Speedway, Busch won the Coke Zero Sugar 400, his 10th win in the NASCAR Cup Series – which at 23 years, 2 months, and 3 days, made him the youngest to reach that milestone, dethroning Jeff Gordon.
On February 21st, 2009, Busch would make history by winning both the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series events at Auto Club Speedway – the first driver to win multiple NASCAR National Series events on the same day.
The following month, Busch would celebrate his 24th birthday in Victory Lane at Richmond Raceway, after winning the 2009 Crown Royal Presents the Russ Friedman 400 on May 2, 2009 – making him just the second driver to win a NASCAR Cup Series event on their birthday, and when he did it again on his 36th birthday in 2021, joined Cale Yarborough as the second driver to do it more than once.
In 2009, at 24 years old, Busch competed full-time in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series while juggling his full-time deal in the NASCAR Cup Series. With a total of nine wins, 25 top-fives, and 30 top 10s, Busch won the title in NASCAR’s second-tier division, his first NASCAR championship.
The year that Kyle Busch married his wife, Samantha (2010), was arguably one of the most prolific of his career.
In August of that year, Busch (once again) made history, winning the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, and NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series events at Bristol Motor Speedway, making the Joe Gibbs Racing driver the first to EVER sweep a tripleheader NASCAR weekend. It’s a record which, to this day, many have tried to replicate, but nobody has been able to pull off (except for Busch, of course, when he did it a second time in 2017).
That was a pretty substantial highlight in a year that included sensational campaigns across all three divisions, including a record-smashing 13 victories in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series (the most all-time), and a total of 24 victories across Cup, O’Reilly, and Trucks (the most in the modern era, and second most all-time).
Busch didn’t bother to slow down throughout the first half of the 2010s. Now, sure, they weren’t necessarily record-breaking years, but they were still pretty damn phenomenal — with 18 NASCAR wins in 2011, 21 wins in 2013, and 15 wins in 2014.
When the dust finally settled on 2015, it ended up being one of the biggest seasons of Busch’s NASCAR Cup Series career, winning his first title. However, you likely wouldn’t have been able to convince him it’d end this way in February, after suffering a double compound fracture to his right leg and a broken left foot after a vicious wreck in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Daytona.
Busch missed nearly one-third of the season (11 races), and didn’t return until Memorial Day, but it didn’t take him long to start stacking trophies; in the NASCAR Cup, O’Reilly Auto Parts, and CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. In his fifth race back, Busch went to Victory Lane at Sonoma, and by doing so, became the second-youngest driver to reach 30 wins at NASCAR’s top-level.
With strong, consistent showings in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, Busch went to Homestead-Miami Speedway in the Championship 4 – and won the race, giving him his first NASCAR Cup Series title at 30 years old. That title made Busch the first NASCAR Cup Series champion for Toyota, one of six drivers to win Cup and O’Reilly Series titles, and the first driver to win a title without competing in all the races.
After his first championship, Busch continued chugging along and collecting some more incredible stats throughout the years, with 16 NASCAR National Series wins in 2016. But, things changed a bit in 2017, when NASCAR implemented what is informally known as the “Kyle Busch Rule” – limiting experienced full-time Cup Series drivers from running more than a certain number of events in the O’Reilly Auto Parts and Truck Series (a number which has changed several times in the decade since the rule was first implemented).
That didn’t do a ton to slow Busch down, though, who in the first year of the rule’s existence, 2017, won five of his 10 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series starts, and three of his seven NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series starts, plus five races in the NASCAR Cup Series for a 13-win season. The following season, Busch again combined for double digits in NASCAR’s National Series, with 11 wins — one of which was a NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series victory at Pocono in July 2018, where Busch matched Ron Hornaday, Jr. as the winningest driver in series history, a mark he’s only extended in the eight years since.
The 2019 NASCAR Cup Series campaign started on an extremely strong note for Busch, starting the year with top-10 results in each of the first 11 events of the season — tying a record set by Morgan Shepherd in 1990. Right in the middle of that streak, Busch won at Auto Club Speedway on March 17, collecting his 200th NASCAR National Series win — matching the record set by Richard Petty.
The 2019 NASCAR Cup Series campaign started on a very strong note for Busch, starting the season with top-10 results in each of the first 11 events of the season – tying a record set by Morgan Shepherd in 1990. That was the start of one of Busch’s strongest seasons, where the driver of the No. 18 Toyota Camry won five races and collected top-10s in 27 of 36 races, on the way to clinching his second NASCAR Cup Series title with a win at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
As the number of races that Busch was eligible to run in the O’Reilly and Truck Series dwindled with further tweaks to the so-called “Kyle Busch Rule”, those impressive double-digit season win totals weren’t possible anymore.
In June 2021 at Nashville Superspeedway, Busch collected his landmark 100th career victory in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series – a notable landmark (for his competitors) since the winningest driver in the series claimed that as soon as he reached triple-digit wins in the O’Reilly Series, he would stop competing. Busch finished his contracted races with Joe Gibbs Racing in 2021 (and collected two more wins) and then wouldn’t return but for five additional races in the second-tier series over the next five years.
After a 15-year tenure with Joe Gibbs Racing, the tides of change finally reached Kyle Busch when long-time sponsor Mars (M&M’s) chose to move on from its NASCAR sponsorship. A major sponsor could not be found for Busch, and JGR, instead, promoted Ty Gibbs to the NASCAR Cup Series for 2023. So, the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion defected to Richard Childress Racing to drive the No. 8.
… and I’ll be damned if Busch didn’t show up to Welcome, North Carolina and have the best-ever start to a NASCAR Cup Series tenure with Richard Childress Racing, collecting three victories, four top-fives, and eight top 10s in his first 15 races with the team.
Unfortunately, after the organization’s incredible start with Busch behind the wheel of the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, Richard Childress Racing started to fade in performance and was never able to recover to the point where Busch was able to get back into Victory Lane, though there were some close calls.
In the Fall of 2023, Busch collected his 500th lead-lap finish in the NASCAR Cup Series, becoming (at the time) the sixth driver to reach that milestone. The following year, Busch reached his landmark 700th start in the NASCAR Cup Series at Indianapolis Motor Speedway – the second youngest driver to reach that milestone.
Busch’s 69th and final NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series win came at Dover Motor Speedway, just six days before his passing – leaving him as the all-time wins leader in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series (102 wins), NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series (69 wins), and across NASCAR’s National Series (234 wins).
It really didn’t matter what racetrack you were heading to; Kyle Busch was always going to be a threat, as evidenced by the 31 different racetracks he won at during his NASCAR National Series career.
At NINE of those 31 racetracks, Busch won 10 or more times across NASCAR’s National Series – Texas, Charlotte, Bristol, Phoenix, Atlanta, Auto Club, Richmond, Loudon, and Chicagoland.
At SEVENTEEN of those 31 racetracks, Busch won a NASCAR Cup, O’Reilly, and CRAFTSMAN Truck Series event – Atlanta, Auto Club, Bristol, Charlotte, Chicagoland, Daytona, Dover, Homestead, Kansas, Kentucky, Las Vegas, Michigan, Loudon, Phoenix, Pocono, Talladega, and Texas.
All those accolades, records, and victories were just with Kyle Busch behind the wheel. In 2009, with assets purchased from Xpress Motorsports and Roush Racing, Busch started a brand-new chapter in his NASCAR journey: team ownership.
Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) was founded in 2010 by Kyle Busch and ran in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series from 2010 to 2023, as well as the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series in 2012 and 2013. With Busch at the helm, the operation was obviously successful.
Unsurprisingly, Busch was the first winner for Kyle Busch Motorsports, winning the 2010 Nashville 200 at Nashville Superspeedway on April 2 – the organization’s fourth-ever start in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. Busch would go on to win 50 races for Kyle Busch Motorsports, including the team’s 100th (and final) triumph at Pocono Raceway in July 2023.
During the team’s 13-year run in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series, 53 drivers walked through the doors of Kyle Busch Motorsports, with 18 drivers going to Victory Lane. The story wasn’t the same for all of them, though: some were Toyota Racing Development (TRD) prospects being fostered through the NASCAR National Series ladder by Kyle Busch, while others were returning to the Truck Series for one-offs, or for additional races to gain extra experience.
NINE of the 18 winners for Kyle Busch Motorsports in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series made a stop at the organization on their way to the NASCAR Cup Series, where they remain active to this day – Bubba Wallace, Erik Jones, Christopher Bell, William Byron, Daniel Suarez, Noah Gragson, Todd Gilliland, and John Hunter Nemechek.
THREE more of the 18 winners for Kyle Busch Motorsports are on their up way up the ranks of NASCAR’s National Series, competing in either the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series or the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series – Corey Heim, Chandler Smith, and Brandon Jones.
That doesn’t even include Kyle Busch (the driver responsible for half of the team’s wins). Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex, Jr., and Kasey Kahne were already full-time NASCAR Cup Series drivers when they came in and won for KBM. Even drivers like Brian Scott, Harrison Burton, and Riley Herbst, who didn’t necessarily win a race with the team, have had full-time stints in the Cup Series.
In fact, 11 of the 39 drivers entered in last Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 competed for Kyle Busch Motorsports at one point or another – Gragson, Suarez, Hamlin, Bell, Wallace, Byron, Gilliland, Herbst, Nemechek, Jones, and Heim.
There is one thing that has become abundantly clear over the last week, as the industry navigates the devastating loss of Busch: between his on-track dazzle, his off-track accomplishments in life and business, and the amazing stories about the person he was away from the racetrack, there will never be another Kyle Busch.
#RowdyForever
