Kyle Busch, 2-time NASCAR Cup champ, dies at age 41

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Kyle Busch, the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion dubbed “Rowdy” for his fierce driving style and personality to match, has died. He was 41 years old.

Busch, a 234-time winner in NASCAR’s top three national series, died Thursday. His family had posted a statement earlier in the day, stating he would miss the upcoming weekend’s races at Charlotte Motor Speedway due to a serious illness he was hospitalized for.

Busch’s death comes as a shock as he had just turned 41 years old earlier this month and was in full competition mode as a driver.

Busch had just competed in the NASCAR All-Star Race last Sunday at Dover Motor Speedway, where he won a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race just two days before. It was his 69th win in the series and he was set to vie for No. 70 in this Friday’s NCTS race at Charlotte before being sidelined.

Busch had struggled this season but was headed for a rebound, with two top-10 finishes in the last three Cup races and a top-10 run in the other race, at Texas Motor Speedway.

Busch’s final Cup Series win will down go down as being at World Wide Technology Raceway Gateway in June 2023, the last of three wins in a breakout season with Richard Childress Racing, the team that helped him land on his feet after a 15-year relationship with Joe Gibbs Racing ended after 2022.

In 15 Cup seasons with JGR, between 2008 and 2022, Busch earned two championships (2015, 2019), 56 wins and was one of the most prominent drivers to take the grid with the iconic yellow No. 18 M&Ms Toyota.

Busch’s efforts in that time as a team owner of Kyle Busch Motorsports also helped propel several drivers to future Cup stardom, including Christopher Bell, William Byron, Erik Jones and Todd Gilliland. 

Before going to JGR, Busch kickstarted his Cup career with four wins for Hendrick Motorsports during his three-season tenure in the No. 5 car.

Away from the track, Busch took to being a father well, getting to share his passion with son, Brexton. One goal of Busch’s was to possibly share a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series entry with his son as his wound down his career and to possibly become the first Triple Threat champion in the sport. He won the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series title in 2009 before winning his two Cup titles and just needed a Truck title to complete that.

Busch’s accomplishments and legacy are immeasurable for any fan or person who watched him go from being a young teenager kicked out of a race in southern California not because of his attitude but because he was too young to be participating in a race sponsored by a cigarette company, to lighting up the NASCAR ranks just as much as he was lighting people’s fuses, to being a saged veteran who, at one point, won on every Cup track the series visited — all of which molded him into a key voice in the garage area and one of the greatest drivers NASCAR has ever seen.

Busch was just 41 years old. He leaves behind his wife, Samantha, and two children, Brexton and Lennix, as well as his brother, Kurt, who competed in the Cup Series with him for almost his entire career.