Kyle Busch, a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and the winningest driver across the sport's three national series, died Thursday, May 21, at the age of 41.
Richard Childress Racing, NASCAR and the Busch family confirmed the death Thursday afternoon in a joint statement, which said Busch had been hospitalized with a sudden and severe illness. No cause was given. He is survived by his wife, Samantha; their son, Brexton, 11; their daughter, Lennix, 4; his parents, Tom and Gaye Busch; and his brother, Kurt Busch, himself a Cup Series champion.
"NASCAR lost a giant of the sport today, far too soon," the statement read. It called Busch "a future Hall of Famer" and "a rare talent, one who comes along once in a generation," and asked that the family's privacy be respected.
The record is not in dispute. Busch won 63 Cup Series races, ninth on the all-time list, and won Cup championships in 2015 and 2019. Across NASCAR's three national series he won 234 times — more than any driver in the sport's history — and he holds the win records in both the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series and the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. He began his Cup career with Hendrick Motorsports, moved to Joe Gibbs Racing in 2008, and was driving the No. 8 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing at the time of his death.
The sport returns to Charlotte this weekend. Busch won the 2018 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway — one of what Speedway Motorsports described as more victories across NASCAR's top three series at that track than any other driver has recorded — and the 600 runs again Sunday, on Memorial Day weekend.
"Kyle Busch was a champion among champions," Speedway Motorsports chief executive Marcus Smith said in a statement, crediting Busch's "grit, unmistakable driving style and relentless pursuit of excellence." Smith noted that Busch's racing reached beyond stock cars into dirt tracks and U.S. Legend Cars, where he competed alongside Brexton.
They called him Rowdy, and the name carried past the driver. His fans took it as their own — "the proud and loyal 'Rowdy Nation,'" the joint statement called them. He was, by the sport's own accounting, fierce and immensely skilled, and he had been building something past his own seat: as a Truck Series owner, he put young drivers in cars and gave them a way up. The joint statement credited him with fostering "the next generation of drivers."
He was still winning. His most recent victory came in the Truck Series, and it came at Dover Motor Speedway.
The family said further updates would be shared as appropriate. Busch's last race was a win. It came six days ago.
A career in photos:
