Kyle Busch had a signature postrace bow.
Since he died in May, other drivers have taken it in Victory Lane to honor him.
On October 9, at Charlotte Motor Speedway, his 11-year-old son, Brexton, took it for him.
More than 10,000 fans stayed after the Truck Series race for Busch’s celebration of life, held nearly five months after the two-time Cup champion died in May at 41. Near the end of the night, his widow, Samantha, told the crowd that Brexton had something to do for his dad.
Brexton climbed into the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet his father had driven and circled the track, then lit up a burnout on the frontstretch as the crowd roared. Then he climbed onto the roof with a checkered flag and gave the crowd his father’s bow. NASCAR posted it with four words, “Like father, like son.”
Kyle Larson, the defending Cup champion, told the crowd Busch was the most talented driver he ever raced against. Nine of the 36 full-time Cup drivers came up through Kyle Busch Motorsports, his own team, and three of them, Christopher Bell, Noah Gragson and Daniel Suarez, spoke that night.
Samantha Busch Told Fans This Is Not the End of Kyle’s Story
Brexton is no stranger to a race car. He has kept racing quarter midg𝐞ts and go-karts since his father died, and Samantha told the crowd he feels the void at the track.
She spoke for about 10 minutes. She told the crowd she met Kyle when she was 21, when he took her for a ride around Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and she said it turned out to be the ride of their lifetime.
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“This is not the end of Kyle’s story,” she said.
Later in her speech, she talked about what he left behind. “That’s a legacy that no checkered flag can contain,” she said.
She also told the crowd she never fully understood what the sport meant until they lost him, because the races kept going and the cars kept circling while their own world stopped. She closed by promising that the family would race on.
Kurt Busch remembered a little brother who wanted to beat him at everything, and Joe Gibbs told the story of a second-place finish he thought was decent, until Kyle walked over and told him his cars were not good enough, in much stronger words. The night ended with country star Cole Swindell playing an acoustic set for the crowd.
Kyle Busch won 234 races across NASCAR‘s top three series, more than anyone ever has. On a Friday night in Charlotte, the bow belonged to a boy in his father’s car, and nobody in that grandstand, not even the ones who used to boo, could be blamed for wiping their eyes.
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