Ricky Stenhouse Jr. set aside years of rivalry with Kyle Busch after Busch’s death, posting condolences that centered on Busch’s family and the intensity he brought to NASCAR—especially as Stenhouse recounted their infamous feud that erupted at the 2024 NASCAR
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. didn’t dress it up. He posted the kind of message that reads like it was written with shaking hands, even if the words were still carefully chosen.
“There aren’t really words for today,” Stenhouse wrote on X shortly after Kyle Busch’s death became public. Busch was 41.
Stenhouse said he’d raced against Kyle Busch for a long time, and that anyone who’s lined up next to him understood what made him special. In Stenhouse’s telling, Busch gave “everything he had, every single lap,” and he made “all of us better for it.”
Then the focus moved away from the trophies and statistics. Stenhouse said he can’t stop thinking about Samantha, Brexton, and Lennix, as well as “the entire Busch family.” He closed with, “Rest easy, Rowdy. The sport won’t be the same without you.”
Stenhouse’s reaction came even though he and Busch weren’t exactly aligned as competitors. Their relationship included a long-running feud that boiled over on May 19, 2024, during the NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race. Busch crashed into Stenhouse on the second lap, and Stenhouse confronted Busch in a heated exchange afterward. Stenhouse threw a punch, and a brawl followed.
None of that, Stenhouse said in effect through the way he wrote his grief, mattered on this day.
Busch’s death also arrived after a sudden and troubling stretch. Despite placing 17th in the NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race on May 17. Busch was hospitalized with a severe illness on Thursday. Two weeks earlier. he had battled a sinus cold. but he was still preparing to compete in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday.
For Stenhouse, the message was clear: the rivalry can wait. His condolences were extended to the Busch family and to “all those affected by his passing.”
He also framed Busch not as a rival to be measured. but as someone who pushed the sport—someone whose flair and intensity were part of why NASCAR felt different when Busch was on the track. With Busch gone. Stenhouse’s words carried a simple weight: the sport. he believes. won’t be the same without him.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr Kyle Busch NASCAR Daytona 500 Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race Charlotte Motor Speedway condolences Rowdy feud