Kyle Busch Remembered: Rowdy's final Cup win at Gateway

We continue our ‘Kyle Busch Remembered’ series as NASCAR races at WWT Raceway, where Busch won both a Cup and O’Reilly race in his career.

Those two victories are among his record 234 career NASCAR wins across all three national divisions — more than any other driver in history. Busch died at the age of 41, just days after his final NASCAR victory due to severe pneumonia that progressed into sepsis.

Since that tragic Memorial Day Weekend, we’ve been highlighting his most impressive, memorable, or even infamous moments at whatever track is up next on the NASCAR Cup schedule. Now, there’s not much to pick from at Gateway due to a limited number of starts, so this week, we’re going to focus solely on his two victories at the Illinois track.

Previously, we covered Atlanta, Sonoma, Nashville, Michigan, Pocono, Chicagoland, Indianapolis, Richmond, New HampshireDaytona, and Darlington — which you can find by clicking the names of each track as mentioned. Now, here’s a look back at Rowdy’s most big wins at Gateway:

Kyle Busch Gateway NASCAR Stats

NASCAR CUP: 4 starts / 1 win / 1 pole / 2 top fives / 2 top tens / 202 laps led

O’REILLY: 3 starts / 1 win / 0 poles / 2 top fives / 3 top tens / 91 laps led

TRUCKS: N/A

NASCAR Cup 2023 — The final bow as a Cup driver

Watch: Kyle Busch on St. Louis weekend: ‘Just winning, baby!’

The 63rd and final NASCAR Cup Series win of Kyle Busch’s career at the top level of the sport. Busch started the race from pole position in his first pole as a driver for Richard Childress Racing. He has already won two races with RCR after joining them ahead of the 2023 season, and many saw Gateway as just the continuation of a rebirth for the historic organization. Sadly, it was actually the end of a chapter with Busch claiming the checkered flag for the final time as a Cup driver, though he came close many times after.

Busch led 123 of 243 laps, and remains the all-time laps led leader at Gateway in the Cup Series. On a restart with 57 laps to go, Busch in third pushed Kyle Larson clear of Denny Hamlin, and then boldly drove to the outside of Larson seconds later.

In an absolute power move, he then cleared Larson into Turn 1. Larson tried to fight back, but Busch remained strong on the outside and cleared him again. He held the lead for the remainder of the race despite FIVE restarts (and even a red flag) as the cautions started flying constantly. The race ended in overtime, but no one was going to deny Busch on that day.

Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

He was joined by his wife Samantha, as well as his young children Brexton and Lennix in the victory celebrations. He joined a very exclusive list of drivers to win at least three races in a single season for RCR: Tyler Reddick, Kevin Harvick, and of course, Dale Earnhardt.

On that day, Gateway became the 25th different track Busch earned a Cup win at, and ultimately, the final time we saw his signature bow in the Cup Series.

“That was pretty awesome. To sit on the pole, lead a lot of laps, and have my guys do such a great job today was pretty phenomenal for us. Great for RCR — ‘just win baby!'”

NASCAR O’Reilly 2009 — First NASCAR win at Gateway

Kyle Busch wins

On his way to the 2009 NASCAR O’Reilly title, Busch claimed his first victory at Gateway (in any national division) after leading 90 of 200 laps. He started the race from ninth, but quickly made his way forward. However, it was Kevin Harvick who was in control with 30 laps to go, but he ran out of fuel in an attempt to push his penultimate run just a little bit longer. Busch retook the lead and despite a two-tire call during the final caution period, keeping Reed Sorenson at bay.

It was Busch’s 27th win as a NASCAR O’Reilly driver — on 17 different tracks. Busch won a total of nine races that season on his way to the championship, and Gateway was part of an incredible stretch of ten consecutive races with no finish worse than 2nd place!