NASCAR is celebrating August 18 as Kyle Busch Day, honoring the two numbers (8/18) that Busch wore through the majority of his racing career.
Busch died unexpectedly in May of this year, sending a shock through the NASCAR world. His fellow drivers have been honoring his memory throughout the year since his passing, and Kyle Busch Day allowed for another wave of tributes to pour in.
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Busch’s impact on racing is abundantly clear through the memories that have been shared by the drivers who competed against him on the track. At 41, Busch was one of the veterans of the sport, and while he could be cantankerous from time to time, he also used his veteran status to help the generations that came after him learn the ins and outs of pro racing at the highest level.
“There isn’t a weekend that goes by that I don’t miss seeing him at the track,” wrote fellow driver Erik Jones in his remembrance of Busch on Tuesday. “Kyle took a chance on me, putting me in one of his Trucks over 13 years ago and pushed me to be better every day since. A generational talent, the ultimate showman, and a friend I’ll never forget.”
Busch has seen every side of racing, and was well familiar with the extremely high highs and the heartbreaking defeats the sport can deliver. Connor Zilisch said that Busch was there for him after his heartbreaking loss in the championship race of the O’Reilly Series last year.
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“One memory that really stick out to me with Kyle — after I lost the championship last year, he was one of the drivers that reached out to me and voiced his appreciation and support for the season that I had,” Zilisch said in a video shared by Trackhouse Racing. “Just told me to not let this change me. He told me how proud he was of how far I’d come that season. Having someone like Kyle Busch reach out to me and show that they’ve noticed the progression and I have their support was really cool.”
Zilisch later shared the message Busch sent him after the tough finish to his season.
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While Zilisch got a heartfelt bit of veteran leadership, there was also the straight-shooter side of Busch, who was ready to tell it like it is so that everyone could be better for it.
That’s the Busch that Noah Gragson remembered.
“Kyle held an incredible standard, and you wanted to be like him,” Gragson said after sharing one of his favorite memories with Busch. “He’s one of the best, if not the best.”
Each memory in itself is a great time capsule showing who Busch was, but taken as a whole, they also tell the story of a man that helped bring the generations behind him into the sport. Jones is 30, but was racing trucks for Busch more than a decade ago. Zilisch is 20, and Gragson is 28.
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Carson Hocevar, 23, re-shared an image of himself as a child, standing next to a driver he idolized and would later share the track with in Busch.
“This little boy in this picture hated you on Sunday’s,” Hocevar wrote in the caption back in May. “But he loved to hate you, and you made it very difficult to hate and not become a fan when your passion for racing showed, when you would show up to his home town to race at his home tracks. He will be forever grateful for that.”
Busch made an impact on the sport that has already affected generations of future fans and drivers, and with NASCAR now setting August 18 as Kyle Busch Day, that legacy will continue to be celebrated every year.
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