Nascar world mourns driver Kyle Busch as tributes flood social media
The racing world is mourning the sudden loss of Nascar driver Kyle Busch, social media quickly filled with tributes from fans.
- Brexton Busch, the 11-year-old son of the late Kyle Busch, is continuing his racing career in the Legends car series.
- The Busch family, including grandfather Tom and uncle Kurt, are rallying around Brexton following his father’s death.
CONCORD, NC – The boy is smiling as he emerges from a long black trailer attached to a white Ford Super Duty pickup truck. It’s a hot, sticky summer day at Charlotte Motor Speedway with temperatures rising above 90 degrees, but 11-year-old Brexton Busch is happy. As long as the rain holds off, in about an hour he’ll be in his comfort zone: behind the wheel of his racecar.
On this night of July 28, the weekly Cook Out Summer Shootout is coming to an end for the season with its championship. The series is one for Legends cars, one of the many youth pathways in racing that eventually lead to NASCAR, where Brexton’s late father Kyle became a superstar – winning a whole lot of races and a few championships.
Legends are designed to replicate old-style cars from the 1930s on a five-eighths scale. They run on motorcycle engines and typically top-out at 140 miles per hour. Of course, they’re still dangerous, as Brexton learned here a week ago when he crashed. But his confidence remains unshaken — on this day, he’s looking forward to being in the driver’s seat.
With time to kill before his race begins, Brexton goes to find a snack. He returns to a makeshift pit-stall area where his No. 18 Legends car is parked next to a few others. There are several camping chairs scattered around and Brexton’s grandfather Tom sits in one, sipping a Diet Mountain Dew, wearing faded blue jeans and a short-sleeve button-up shirt covered with classic cars. Decades ago, when he was a mechanic and short-track driver in Las Vegas, Tom was taking Brexton’s father, Kyle, and his uncle Kurt out to races like this one, tutoring them before they became the winningest brothers in NASCAR history.
Brexton picks a chair a few yards in front of his grandfather that has a good view of the jumbotron videoboard showing the racing of the Bandoleros — miniature stockcars with go-kart-like mechanics. Brexton plops down and starts eating a bowl of sliced pickles with a plastic fork as he watches the race. Within minutes, the bowl is empty and he slurps down the pickle juice that remains.
A helmet and a pair of orange racing gloves sit atop Brexton’s No. 18 machine. Even if he wasn’t the son of a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, his car would be easy to spot with a lime green paint scheme that stands out in the field — not to mention the giant decal of Charlie the Tuna, the mascot for StarKist, plastered on the trunk.
One of the garage veterans mentoring Brexton and working on his cars is “Big Al” Scroggins, a highly regarded longtime dirt-racing crew chief. It’s his birthday, so a few balloons and a small cake are situated on a folding table near the No. 18. Brexton is knocking the balloons back and forth with another crew member and jokes about sucking the helium out of one of them to make his voice sound funny before his post-race interview. The older men laugh, but tell him no.
His uncle, NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Kurt Busch, arrives wearing a Monster Energy t-shirt and camo shorts. The former Daytona 500 winner munches on sunflower seeds and sips on a Gatorade as he gives his nephew’s car a onceover, checking the tires and suspension.
It’s now time for Brexton to strap into his ride. He pulls on his helmet and gloves, then climbs in. Aaron Bowes, who has been a crew chief and mentor for Brexton, leans into the car and gives the driver some last minute pointers and advice. Then his mother, Samantha Busch, walks over with his younger sister Lennix. Samantha kneels down, grabbing his right hand with her left as she says a quiet prayer. As Brexton pulls off towards the starting grid, uncle Kurt gives him a confident nod.
For an average fan watching this from afar, it’s difficult to not wonder where Brexton’s father would be in all this had he not suddenly died on May 21 at the age of 41 due to complications from sepsis caused by presumed bacterial pneumonia. Six days before he died, Kyle Busch was celebrating with Brexton on the track at Dover where he had just won his record 234th race across NASCAR’s top three national touring series.
Kyle Busch’s death shook the sport, but it’s clear on this day that it hasn’t broken the Busch family. They’re all here, all rallying around Brexton, who carries the same dreams his dad did of being a racecar driver. Here, at Charlotte Motor Speedway, he is insulated from the world. In the infield, he’s simply a kid. And when he puts on the helmet and straps into his machine, he is — like all the other competitors out there — a budding racecar driver.
On the track though, it’s hard to ignore his bloodlines. Like any other driver who has the Busch name on their car, Brexton shows speed, competitiveness and craft. After falling back as far as 12th in the Legends race, he gets a good run on a restart and battles his way up to a sixth-place finish.
After the race, like any kid who didn’t win would be, Brexton is a bit upset. Uncle Kurt throws his arm around him and Bowes gives him some constructive criticism. Another young driver, Jackson Fooks, walks over and gives Brexton a hug.
Following the debrief, family and friends gather to sing Happy Birthday to Big Al. The No. 18 machine is loaded into the long black trailer, while Brexton’s helmet and firesuit are carried away by Bowes.
Brexton has changed into a pair of shorts and a black polo. It’s starting to rain, but he jogs over to the table and grabs a slice of birthday cake, then disappears into the parking lot and the possibilities of this summer night.