Bringing the Heat: Remembering Kyle Busch

Good evening, everyone. Welcome on into a special bringing the heat with Trey Lyle.

Kyle Busch tragically has passed away at the age of 41 to go through the timelines of events

day before I bring in Tanner Marlar. It was announced earlier today that Kyle Busch would

unable to compete in the races this weekend. His family issuing a statement through his

Twitter account and then tragically a few hours later at 5.40 p.m. NASCAR Richard Childress

Racing and the Busch family issued the following statement. Our entire NASCAR family is heartbroken

by the loss of Kyle Busch. A future Hall of Famer, Kyle was a rare talent, one of who comes along

once in a generation. He was fierce, he was passionate, he was immensely skilled and he

cared deeply about the sport and fans. Throughout a career that spanned more than two decades,

Kyle set records in national series, wins one championship at NASCAR's highest level

and fostered the next generation of drivers as an owner in the truck series. His sharp wit

and competitive spirit sparked a deep emotional connection with race fans of every age,

creating the proud and loyal rowdy nation. Our thoughts are with Samantha Busch,

Brexton and Linux, Kyle and Samantha's parents, Kurt and all of Kyle's family, Richard and Judy

Childress, everyone at Richard Childress Racing, his teammates, friends and fans. NASCAR lost a

giant of the sport today far too soon. During this incredibly difficult time, we ask everyone to

respect the family's privacy and continue to keep them in your thoughts and prayers. Further updates

will be shared as appropriate. As I welcome in Tanner Marlar with me, we'll have Chris Graham

dropping in and out as he's working behind the scenes. I do want to mention it. Please share

your favorite memory of Kyle Busch in the comment section. If it's on Facebook, YouTube, wherever

you're watching this, we will try to display them throughout how long ever we're on here. Tanner,

unfortunate circumstances to see you, man. This is incredibly shocking. NASCAR truly loses

a true top 10 driver of all time today way too soon. That's right. And you know,

it's one of those moments as a not just racing fan, but a sports fan where you can remember

exactly where you were. I said to somebody earlier, I've had so many people from outside the NASCAR

community reach out to me today and just in the last hour to express condolences, to ask what

happened for looking for updates on any kind of situation. And you can look across social media

right now and see the sheer impact that Kyle had not just on racing, but on sports in general. He

was a transcendent figure, not just again in stock car racing or in just motorsport, but in popular

culture. Everybody knew who Rowdy was. Everybody knew who Kyle Busch was, whether you had tuned

into an NASCAR race in the last 20 years or not, you knew the name and you still know the name.

And that's powerful. And that's something that I think is self evident in everybody's expressions

and emotions today. Looking at this just events, there's been a lot of statements throughout the

community. I look at obviously Rick Hendrick has issued a statement. This is an incredibly painful

shock for all of us in a heartbreaking loss for the NASCAR family. Kyle was one of the most

talented drivers I've ever seen in a racer in the truest sense of the world. He had a fire and

a spirit that drove him to be great. I watched Kyle grow up in this sport and valued the friendship

we shared long after he drove for our organization. As much as he loved to drive a race car,

nothing brought him more joy than being a husband and a father and watching his son race.

On behalf of everyone at Hendrick Motorsports, our hearts are with Samantha Brexton, Linux,

Kurt and the Busch family. That was from Rick Hendrick. I mean, this is a man who won six days

ago. His son's birthday was this past week. It's incredibly, incredibly tragic to see this fall

down. He won. I mean, it is fitting in a sense that one of the last races that Kyle Busch took

part of was kind of old school Kyle Busch, where he kicked everyone's behind in that race at Dover.

You know, that gives me a little bit of solace thinking of that. Just he had that kind of

final moment of, you know, I know it was in the truck series, but a series he's very intertwined

with, but where Kyle Busch showed like he still has it. You can't tell the story of

modern NASCAR without Kyle Busch. I mean, this is a guy that we had to, and Marty Smith said this

on Sports Center earlier, we had to change rules for this guy. When Kyle came into the sport,

there were still plenty who believed that you couldn't break into a cup ride until you were in

your thirties, right? And then you see Kyle come in and he's obviously infinitely more talented

than most, if not all of the field was at that age. He can compete with anybody and wants to

compete with everybody. He had the racers edge that we always talk about that made him different.

And like you said, at Dover, we got to see that. And I think what makes this even more tragic

is that over the course of the last few weeks, we've seen all of the ups and downs in the cup

series. And to finally see him start settling back into what looks like old Kyle Busch in the

cup series and not have this happen in parallel is still shocking. It is indeed. And statistically,

he's the greatest arguably ever in terms of wins in most wins. If you combine the three

national series, obviously the NASCAR Raleigh series, we have 102 wins.

You go back like this was a guy who who race for, I mean, really three Titan teams of the sport,

Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing and Richard Childress Racing.

He's a clear first ballad hall of famer. You have the conversation about a guy

gone way too soon. I mean, 41 years old, he still had plenty of time left in his racing career.

It just this this is a man that like it feels like we can't even compare kind of the feeling of

this like the only comparing is kind of like Dale. This is, you know, when NASCAR lost Dale

Earnhardt to some degree, like in terms of that level of talent gone way too soon with still time

left in his career. It is I don't want to say eerily similar because obviously Dale wrecked.

And that was the cause of his death, but just the sudden shock of it all. It feels eerily similar

to like that kind of moment. I think you're exactly right in that saying that it is very,

very much like when the sport lost Dale Earnhardt. But what makes this one so more,

so much more compelling and I think to a level felt so much more broadly is that

Kyle had cultivated this kind of parasocial identity with so many people, not just in racing,

but again in sports in general. And because of that, we all felt we all feel a little bit

connected, right? And not that it's not just because of Kyle, it's because of the great work

he and Samantha have been doing in regards to everything they've done outside of the sport.

And because that you get that sense of closeness with athletes today, it makes these losses like

this hurt infinitely, infinitely more. I don't think I'm alone in saying that everyone feels

impacted by this. And I don't think you find anyone that disagrees with that.

Yeah, entirely. I mean, you think about just the kind of moments of his career. I think we

look back and you can look at all the big wins. Obviously, one of the infamous moments of his

career was when he truly became Rowdy Bush and the villain and Rex Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Richmond

Raceway. I was there in person for the retribution that Dale Earnhardt Jr. had at Richmond Raceway

the year later. But ultimately, let's go back to his crowning moment, that first championship

with Joe Gibbs Racing. The fact that it was one of the best comebacks we've seen

in racing, like the fact he broke his leg before the season at the, at the time it was,

I believe, the Xfinity series. And then he comes back and wins the championship with this kind of

epic run. It just showed like in terms of talent, like there are very few people that you would

put ahead of Kyle Busch in terms of talent. But that one moment, that first championship

was kind of, was kind of like such a crowning moment for a guy who just has

like the an insane amount of talent, Tanner. This is the guy that won a cup series race

every year for 19 straight years. That's talent. It doesn't matter the equipment,

doesn't matter the year, you know how many cars got changed in those 19 years and Bush still found a

way to win. And it goes back to what everybody has been saying that he was a racer. And when

you're a racer of that nature, it doesn't matter what you're driving near as much. All that matters

is you are driving. If you've got Kyle Busch in the car, if you had Kyle Busch in the car,

you had a chance to win every single weekend. And that's still the case, right? That was still

the case. That's how special he was to NASCAR and to racing in general. And you talk about that

first championship and that comeback victory. I feel like that's what cemented his personality

in NASCAR, right? He was already amazing at what he did, but that championship

re-legitimized everything that was to come. And because of all the things that did come after,

I think you're right, we often overlook just how incredible that story is. But today,

being able to look back on that, I think makes it feel even more impressive.

Yeah. Just to think about that 2015 here, at 30 years old where he broke his leg,

he raced in 25 of the 36 races, won five of them. That's a fifth, which is, in racing,

is pretty incredible. And 12 of them were top fives, 16 were top tens. So basically,

all but nine races he competed in that season, he was in the top 10. Just an incredible run.

It's kind of incredible to think about. Tanner, and for folks out there, we're going to go for

a little while. We're going to have more people join us. We should have a couple more people

join us throughout. So, Tanner, stay on for a little bit, and then I know we'll let you go

once we get some more people in. So, we're kind of doing this live, folks. Shout out to Chris

for helping me get this together. Tanner, you wrote a great article for frontstretch.com. Just

posting every driver's reaction to it. Brad Kizolowski says, absolutely shocked, very hard

to process. Hug your love ones. You know, most infamously, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Obviously,

literally yesterday, the video of him, their fight from the All-Star race was on my feed

as an anniversary. He says, there aren't really words for today, I've raced against Kyle for a

long time, and anyone who lined up next to him knows exactly what made him special. He gave you

everything he had, every single lap, and he made all of us better for it. But more than wins and

records, I keep thinking about Samantha Brexton and Linux, the entire Bush family right now.

That is where my heart is. Rest easy, Rowdy. The sport won't be the same without you.

And that's absolutely true. There's another aspect of this, Tanner. It's his sort of, I don't

want to call it king-making, but, you know, when he founded Kyle Bush Motorsports and this being

basically the arm of Toyota Racing Development for so many years till he left Toyota with

Jogas Racing, there are so many big names in the sport who are racing at the Cubs series level,

got their start with Kyle Bush. I look at William Byron, I look at Noah Gregson, I look at,

I think, Corey Heim had time there. So, I mean, Eric Jones had time there. Anyone basically in

the Toyota pipeline has had an impact with Kyle Bush. It truly, you know, Bob Wallace was there

as well. His ability, you know, people think of like Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Brad as two guys who've

made, you know, the kind of help build these careers. Kyle belongs right in that conversation of kind

of the modern guys that can join in on sort of like creating the next generation of racers.

And you can even throw Brexton in there, what he's done with Brexton now.

And you touched on something there in that I think one of the greatest measures we have

for success in this sport is what you do when you're not on the track. And not that Kyle wasn't

on the track in the truck series, but his impact on the sport stretched far beyond just his own

records in that he did allow a lot of these careers that we see today unfolding before us to blossom.

As you said, Corey Heim spent time at KBM with Kyle. A lot of the Cup Series field spent time

in their developmental careers with Kyle and they credit Kyle for teaching them essentially

how to make it at this level. And that is again, another measure by which you can

tell the exact impact of somebody and how much they cared about what they were doing and cared

about the sport because Kyle hadn't just started mentoring these young drivers in his twilight

years of racing. He's been doing this and had been doing this, this for years.

He'd always had a passion for giving back to and developing the younger drivers in the sport.

And I think you can see how deeply that's felt today.

Yeah, absolutely. Just like looking at it now, Eric Jones, Chris Rebelle, David Gilliland, Todd

Gilliland. Well, David Gilliland was obviously already established, but still Todd Gilliland,

John Hunter Nemechek, William Byron, he had Kimmy Reichenan race for him at one point.

He had Chandler Smith, Noah Gregson, Casey Kane is raced for him, Denny Hamlin obviously,

part of the Toyota pipeline. His brother is raced for him. Harrison Burton raced for him for a bit.

Christian Ekis, Chandler Smith. I mean, these are all big names as time goes on.

So, we're going to play a video now. Chris has it. We're going to show some comments as well.

Joey Logano, his former teammate, obviously infamous rival from the time,

most infamous. I mean, you could argue and we can maybe let's have that conversation.

Ness is most infamous rival. It's probably between two guys. And I think this guy belongs

in that conversation. So, Chris, can you roll that video?

Broke. I guess it'd be the one thing and very surprised. I'm sure the whole industry is right

now. Kyle and I have been tough competitors. We didn't see eye on everything, but there was

a mutual respect for each other's talents and what he's been able to do in our sport.

I mean, the bottom line is he is one of the best drivers to ever sit in a race car.

And he impacted our sport in so many ways. You know, such a huge personality.

It's a really big reminder of how fragile life is. Because honestly, I mean, he won the race

last week. Or he won the truck race last week. And, you know, this week, we don't have Kyle anymore.

And I'm shell shocked. I don't even know really what to say.

How it goes out to his family. You know, our community is pretty tight, right? Like I said,

we compete against each other and those type of things. But, you know, our kids play together

on the weekends, right? Like, you know, their family, personal side. And it's,

it's, I guess, it's heartbreaking thinking about what they're going through right now at this moment.

Thanks so much to Nick Carbonni. WCNC is the source. We do have some great comments. And we

thanks so much for your listening. Keep them coming. We're going to do our best to show them

throughout the program. I want to add a couple more things. Like his greatest rival.

It's either Dale Earnhardt Jr. or Joey Logano in terms of just infamous beefs.

I think you could throw in, obviously, there was that moment in the All Star race where him and

his brother go at it, and then they don't end up talking for months. But I do think if you look

at the top of the list, just because of the way they're, you argue, their careers kind of mirrored

each other. In terms of Joey Logano and Kyle Bush, they go to a big team at a young age.

It doesn't work out for what a reason. They get kind of replaced by an established star.

They go to another big team, and then they flourish. It is kind of crazy how those two

careers mirrored each other. But I do think if you're talking about infamous rivals,

Joey Logano belongs very much at the top of the list.

Yeah. I think you're correct. And then it's either Jr. or it is Joey. Another one, obviously,

that I think we'll get talked about a lot is Brad, right? Brad Keselowski, the infamous

Mike Drop moment. And again, it just goes to show you how fierce of a competitor that he was,

right? I think back to what you said about him and Joey's career is kind of mirroring each other.

There was a time where we were having conversations about whether Joey and Kyle proved that

at their age, they were still too young to come into the series, or whether teams should

stick it out with their young drivers a little bit longer and see what happens.

They spurred on a lot of change in the sport he and Joey have, especially Kyle. And the sport

isn't the same without Kyle and his brother by extension, but Kyle especially.

Yeah, absolutely. And then obviously, I think the moment that made him the villain was the

Dale Jr. moment, as we mentioned. But you brought up a good one, Brad.

It's always an infamous moment at Bristol. But I do think Kyle Bush, with one of the

all-time responses, was like, who? Oh, I was passing him. I was laughing at him because he

went on to win the race at Bristol. I mean, to think about this, you could go to Kyle Bush

at Bristol. You could go to Kyle Bush. I mean, obviously, he unfortunately ends up not being

able to win. The only thing he has at one was the DHH10500. But it's the quote. It's like Kyle

Bush, the character. Like you have Kyle Bush, the driver who's so good. And then why he becomes

kind of this all-time figure. And I think as he's going to be remembered in so many different ways,

but it's it's the quotes. It's it's, you know, I'm just like he pulls the Marchion Lynch KFP.

You know, the race against Larson where like he's like, if you don't like that, then, you know,

sorry about it. And then he does the little like this to the camera. Like it's not only that he's

an all-time driver, Kyle Bush is an all-time character of the sport. Like that's what makes

him extra special. It absolutely is. And you see that. And, you know, I think back to all the

interviews and the media he's done outside of NASCAR, right? And he and Pat McAfee have had

a budding relationship. Pat tweeted about it today. You think about all the comedic moments he's had,

not just in racing, but again in pop culture in general. We talk a lot right now and a lot of the

discourse within the sport are now is around making drivers into superstars and getting drivers

outside of the NASCAR media bubble. There's arguably, arguably nobody better at that than

Dale Jr. and Kyle Bush, right? There was a moment and there were many moments in the 2010s and in the

before, even before where Kyle Bush, and I think you could, I think he still is, but Kyle Bush was

a household name not just because of what he did on the track, but also because of his persona off of

it. His sponsorship deal with Mars, that legendary JGR number 18 M&M's car who that will forever be

synonymous with greatness as long as Kyle Bush is at the wheel of it. I think, I think back to all

those moments as a kid where I would be walking into a grocery store or I would be, you know,

just watching TV or something and I'd see Kyle Bush on a cartoon or I'd see a whole cardboard cut

out of him in a grocery store and it would have nothing to do with racing. It would just have

whatever to do with whatever he had going on at that moment. He was a superstar and not just in

the sense of NASCAR, but a superstar globally, a superstar in racing in general. And we are,

again, worse off today than we were yesterday because we no longer have Kyle Bush.

Well, Tanner, I want to appreciate you being the first one to hop on. I gave you like 10 minutes

notice because we were throwing this together. We're going to have some more people join us. So

appreciate the time, man, and just I want to say how much I appreciate you and especially on a

day like today. So what you should tell to all your friends and family, but I appreciate you, my man.

Thank you, Trent. Same to you, my friend.

That was Tanner Marlar as we do the switch. Now we have some great comments.

Chris, you want to throw some up there as we welcome in Dalton Hopkins, who is

near Charlotte Motors Speedway, who's going to be covering a unique Koch 600. Dalton,

what's up, buddy? This is Unfortunate Circumstances as we discuss this unfortunate event. Just take

us through your initial reaction when you found out the news about Kyle Bush.

Great. A lot of us heard that it wasn't looking too good. I actually got done

talking to some of the other reporters that I know asking if they had heard anything.

Of course, right after 10 seconds after I got that phone call, I was greeted with that news.

It is pouring here. Well, it was pouring. You can't hear it now, but

five seconds ago, like 30 seconds ago, we were in pouring rain and that just about

Massey and I are kind of like saying that kind of fits the, that definitely fits the vibe

for what will be this weekend. If you haven't seen the forecast, the forecast for this weekend is

not great. It's about 90% for the next four days. That definitely checks out.

Yeah. This is just unimaginable to think about. I mean, this is one of the greatest drivers

of all time. He's in the conversation for the greatest driver of his generation along with

Denny Hamlin amongst others. This is just, for folks out there, being able to cover the sport

for so long. Obviously, I do want to ask you, because you grew up in Daytona, the only race

that was missing him was the Daytona 500. This feels like, despite the fact he never was able

to get that done, this does feel like one of the most accomplished careers in the history of NASCAR.

I actually was asking one of my mentors, Dr. Stephen Master, who is kind of the one who

taught me the journalistic approach. He was there the day that Dale Earnhardt died in Daytona

2001. I asked him, hey, how does this compare? He said, it's not truly comparable, but it's

equally as shocking. There's no doubt about that. The thing is that this could have happened

to a lot of different people within the industry. The fact that it happened to Kyle Bush,

who was in the conversation for one of the greatest of all time, it does feel a little

Dale Earnhardt-esque just because it's like, why him? I mean, it would be terrible regardless of

who it was, but it had to be somebody as big as him. It's somebody that has a legendary career

and it's almost, it's also very sad that we're not going to see him at least attempt another

Daytona 500 ever again. It's really sad. I don't, I mean, Master and I are kind of thinking like,

how is it going to feel this weekend? It's definitely not going to be the same.

And now I kind of feel like, it almost feels like, like I'm thinking now I know kind of what

all the media and the people who wrote the track at Rockingham the week after Dale Earnhardt passed.

I think I'm probably going to get that feeling tomorrow we head into Charlotte Motor Speedway.

It does. Earlier, and I know you're traveling to Charlotte right now, so we appreciate you joining

us. Please be safe. Dale Earnhardt tragically passed away at 49, Kyle Busch at 41.

You compare them to, and it's just an ultimate tragedy. It's something that we have,

so by the way, he is not the one driving just to be clear. We are keeping it safe.

If you're watching on the YouTube stream, I believe Michael Massey is driving

Dalton right now. So Massey, there he is right there. Hey Massey, how are you doing?

But Dalton, oh, you have headphones in. I forgot about that. Dalton, I agree with you

with the comparison to Dale Earnhardt and just how tragic it was and how sudden it was.

And today, today like was very weird in terms of like, we get a statement from the family,

which is never a good sign. And then, you know, a few hours later, he ultimately is out.

The tragedy is announced. I do want to mention another statement. Derek Neal in his spotter

just issued a statement a few minutes ago. I love UKV. You weren't just my driver,

you were my brother. I appreciate everything you did for me and the friendship and type on we have.

My heart, thoughts and prayers are with Sam Brex, Lenny and the whole family.

A piece of my heart will forever be missing. Let's talk about the career arc for Kyle Busch.

Kyle Busch, the career arc, coming from starting at Hendrick Motorsports, infamously getting replaced

by Dale Earnhardt Jr. going to Jogeth Racing, having this career renaissance when he becomes,

you know, one of the greatest ever Hall of Famer to kind of being, you know, this father

to Brexton and this kind of, you know, villain to fan favorite. It's definitely a unique career

arc in the sport where he was the young, brashful kid, then he was the quote machine and now he's

kind of this, I don't want to call him kingmaker, but this kind of beloved figure towards the end

of his career where he did get to have at least, you know, these past three seasons where the fan

base went from hating him to truly embracing Kyle Busch and in terms of just like the love they

showed for him. Yeah. And I think I actually do, I'm working on an article tonight. It's a fire on

Fridays. I was actually working on a different article and then that news dropped and it's one

of those things where you have to stop what you're doing and immediately talk about this.

But of course, I mean, one of the things I'm writing about is kind of that flip. At some point,

I think it was when he went to RCR, I think that was probably the biggest point where the fan opinion

of him, the general public's opinion of him really swapped. But I think you also have to realize

that yes, just because he was maybe not controversial, but he wasn't exactly a very, he didn't have a

whole lot of fans early on in his career, at least through the Hendrick and the Joe Gibbs

parts of his career. But at the same time, you also love to not like him. You had to have him on

the racetrack because he was that guy that fans didn't like to root for, especially if you were

Dale Earnhardt Jr. fan. He was that guy and it doesn't matter how your time in the sport ends,

whether it be your retirement, whether it be a tragedy such as this. At the end of the day,

people are going to remember you. And I think especially when it comes to somebody like him

as successful as him, people come to appreciate what he was and the figure that he was. And

you have to realize even though he wasn't Dale Jr. winning most popular driver every year,

he wasn't a chase Elliott, he was still a figure on the track. And he is still a legend that will

be remembered really for the rest of time. And there's no doubt about it. That's the biggest

thing is despite everything that's happened, people are going to show their outpouring and

emotion and love and respect because everybody is going to miss him on the track, regardless

of how they felt about him early on in his career. I'm going to read Dale Jr.'s statement here.

And I want to talk to you about that sort of, he talked about his career arc. Kyle and I had a

really challenging existence for many years, but we luckily took the time to figure out our

differences. And that was something he instigated with a conversation in his bus around how we

each managed our race teams. I was super eager for us to get on better, better terms. But it was he

who made the effort for that to be possible. We did some media together also to laugh through

some of the things we put each other through many years ago. Most recently, we had been

discussing him running my late model at Wilkesboro this summer. He seemed extremely happy and we

planned to meet up next Thursday to get a seat to the shop. He laughed over the idea of his fans

and Jared fans having to cheer in unison during that race. Kyle was one of the greatest drivers

in NASCAR history. No one can deny that, but he was also a father, a husband, a brother, son,

and a friend to many. My heart is broken for the Bush family. I will never be able to make sense of

this loss, but I am thankful that we had found a way to become friends. Truly one of, if not the

most infamous rivalry in his career, I think you could throw it. We played the Joey Logano video

earlier, but talk about that. It feels like the moment that Kyle Bush became Kyle Bush was

in Richmond where he wrecked Dale Earnhardt Jr. It's weird to say wrecking another driver

was a moment in a career, but it feels like infamously that when they're going to play

the highlight tape, that kind of moment that sent him off to where Kyle Bush became the true

villain for those years will be played. Yeah. I mean, it's like I said, all these guys,

you know, people are going to remember him for the rest of time and it's highlights

like that. When you think of Kyle Bush, you have to think of that moment at Richmond where he

and Dale Jr. collided. You think of that time where he climbed out at Bristol in 2007 and said

that the COT sucked, said what everyone was thinking, and then you have to think of the time

in 2000 at Texas in 2011, I believe, when he got into Ron Hornaday and got suspended

for the rest of the weekend. I mean, those are rough moments for him and those are things to

remember, but that was part of his character. That was his attitude and that was his personality.

And at the end of the day, you appreciate that. You appreciate who he was. And I say you have

to remember those things, but you also have to remember him winning his 200th career, his 200th

race at Auto Club back in, I think it was 2019. You have to remember him absolutely dominating

the Coke 600 in 2018. You have to remember him winning the championship in 2015 after having

a broken leg for half the season. The guy had true grit. The guy was, he loved winning more than

anything. He loved, he hated, he hated losing more than anything. And I think there's no doubt

about it that he is, he's by far the person that you really have to look at as a true racers racer

in NASCAR history. It's crazy to think about it. And we're going to roll the clip here

from his win. He won six days ago at Dover. He was scheduled to race tomorrow in, in the,

in the series. So Chris, can you roll that roll the is victory lane interview from Dover?

And a bow in front of the fans that are all on their feet down here at the monster mile.

And Michael Waldrop said earlier in the race that a confident Kyle Busch is a dangerous Kyle

Busch. You're 69th victory in this series. You're fit right here. Why do these moments never get

old Kyle? Because you never know when the last one is, you know, so I know all too well, unfortunately

with the cup stuff, but you know, here with the truck stuff right now is it's awesome just to be

a part of Spire Motorsports. Thanks to Jeff and Dan and Mr. H for the opportunity, HenryCars.com.

I'm sure it looked great out front leading the race and it wasn't just Kyle Larson doing it. So

you know, feels like feels good to have another Kyle being able to do it and putting ourselves in

victory lane. So love coming to Dover. Always one of my favorite places to race and definitely some,

some managing of the fuel there, managing of the tires there. And you know, it was an interesting

just kind of strategic battle, I guess, from the driver's seat. And you know, thanks to all the

fans. Appreciate everybody for being here at Dover and the monster mile for all star weekend.

We thank you and hopefully we have another great Riley race tomorrow and an even better cup race on

Sunday. If you're just now joining us, Kyle Bush tragically passes away at the age of 51. We don't

have much information. I just want to take you through the timeline of events today. Earlier

today was announced by his family on Twitter that he will be unable to race at Charlotte Motor

Speedway this weekend. And then later on in the day, about 540 p.m. Nash car issue. Nash car

issued a statement in turn, as I read it here, our entire NASCAR family is heartbroken by the loss

of Kyle Bush. If you're a Hall of Famer, Kyle was a rare talent, one of who comes along once in a

generation. He was fierce. He was passionate. He was immensely skilled. And he cared deeply about

the sport and fans throughout a career that span more than two decades. Kyle set records in a

national series wins one championships at NASCAR's highest level and fostered the next generation

of drivers as an owner in the truck series. His sharp wit and competitive spirit sparked a deep

emotional connection with race fans on every age, creating the proud and loyal rowdy nation.

Our thoughts are with Samantha Brexton at Linux, Kyle and Samantha's parents,

Kurt and all of Kyle's family, Richard and Judy Childress, everyone at Richard Childress Racing,

his teammates, friends and fans. NASCAR lost a giant of the sport today far too soon.

During this incredible, difficult time, we ask everyone to respect the family's privacy

and continue to keep them in your thoughts, prayers and further updates will be shared

as appropriate. As we welcome back in, I think Dalton is still there. Dalton and Michael Massey

kind of rocking the, we're doing our best to do the two box here. We'll go, Massey, you're, you know,

ironically, we were in the same vicinity when this news broke. You were on my day jobs radio show.

You had to learn while trying to talk about the sport, but as you've had now about

two out three hours to process this all, what are your thoughts on kind of today?

Yeah, it's just, as Dalton put it, where the weather in Charlotte matches the mood. It's just

like a dreary day for, there's a cloud hanging over NASCAR and this weekend right now.

I don't know. Three hours later, I still don't really know how to come to terms with it.

The wild thing is like, we just, as you showed that Victory Lane interview, we just saw him

win a truck race six days ago. Four days ago, as driver intros were starting at Dover,

I saw him sitting, I was eating lunch in like the meal area, the media center,

and three tables over is Kyle. While the intros are like starting, you're like, oh, what's he doing?

And he's just like joking around with the people of that table and

he looked in great spirits and great health, but I guess you never really know what's going on

with somebody. But yeah, just very sad stuff. Dalton hit on it very well. I'll add on though,

one sad thing we'll never get to see is him and Brexton in a truck race together.

That was one thing I think a lot of people were excited to see one day, but yeah, we'll never

get that now. Y'all are now in Charlotte and you mentioned the vibe in the area and you kind of

been able to do your initial reporting on this weekend. Any sense of how NASCAR is going to

handle this weekend? I know people talk about a silent lap at lap 18 or 51. He was supposed to

race in the race tomorrow and obviously we already know like Corey Day set the fill in there. Austin

Hill set the fill in the Cubs Coke 600. But any sense of how NASCAR is planning to kind of

somehow honor Kyle Bush this weekend or is that just something that we're still kind of in the

initial shock of things? I think we've just gotten here too recently to really

know anything. It wouldn't surprise me if like everyone in the field had a sticker

as they tend to do when someone passes. Like you said, maybe a silent lap at one of his famous

numbers. Honestly, do them all. But you know, do a seven, do lap eight, do 51, 18,

five if you want. 92 for his one win in the 92 car.

Well, they could do all his wins. They could do what, is it two something? Like,

you have to be silent until you get to all the wins. Yeah, so lap 235 is when you can talk.

Well, fellas, we appreciate your time. I know you just got to your hotel in Charlotte and you got

a lot to do this weekend. We appreciate you hopping on for a few minutes and I will leave the floor

for you. I will give you, how about you both give your favorite Kyle Bush memory as we get on out

of here or you get on out of here? Yeah, I guess I'll go for my favorite. I think we'll be,

I don't know, when he won at Nashville and he smashed the guitar. That was like

him like peak villain hood Kyle Bush. I know that like, Sam Bass didn't take too kindly to it.

I should have just sang the guitar, but like, that was one of those things. Nobody had ever done

that and nobody will ever do that again. So that was, you know, one of those moments that if you

didn't see it happen then, you know, he can never see it. There's simply too many. I think the one

I keep thinking of is probably, I already knew he was who he was. I already knew he was KFB,

but I think the one that sticks out the most to me was probably Auto Club 2023 when he won that

race with RCR because everybody, everybody in their mom, we're all thinking this is like,

this is a terrible move. He's going to go to RCR and he's not going to do very well. He's not going

to perform. And then here we are. What was it? Like 23 races into the season. He reminds

everybody. No, he's Kyle Effing Bush and he's going to win and he did. He won three races that

year and nobody thought he was going to win in his first year with RCR. So everyone thought

it was going to take a few years. So that really goes to show like that really supported the argument

that this guy can win in any car he gets in. It does not matter. And he was still doing that

all the way up to the end, literally six days before the end. He was still winning races.

Fellas, thank you so much for hopping on. We'll enjoy as best you can this very hard weekend

at M-22 at Pitlane CPT. Please follow them for the latest in the Charlotte area. Someone else

who's currently in the Charlotte area is Derek Yoder, who's actually on site at RCR.

As we welcome Derek in. Derek, thanks so much for doing this.

Please just talk about the vibe right now. You're literally on campus at RCR.

Yeah. What is kind of set the scene for us of like what's going on there?

Yeah. I mean, it's a somber scene. There's probably a dozen Kyle Bush fans just reminiscing,

telling stories. They're trying to, you know, share their favorite memories and moments and

being respectful to them. There's some flowers laid down. There's some M&Ms, bags of M&Ms and,

you know, what Kyle used to drive. So it is a, it's a very somber scene. I think Massey said

it best. The weather right now is matching the mood. There's a police presence where they're

not letting anybody go up to RCR headquarters. This is the museum area. So it's still early

on. I'm seeing cars continue into file in. So, you know, the fact that we can do this for our

fans and subscribers to showcase them, these elements and listen to their stories about Kyle

Bush, you know, I think that's what makes our company so great. And I appreciate you hosting

this tonight. And I wish this was a better circumstance, obviously.

Yeah, I completely agree with that. And I appreciate you joining us. What were a couple

of stories that those fans were talking about? Kind of, what are a couple of moments that you

like that I know Massey and Dalton just shared a couple of their favorites, but were a couple more

that were shared by, you know, I guess you would call it rowdy nation.

Yeah, there was, I mean, all the way back to the HMS days, you know, there was a fan that was

saying, hey, he became a fan of Kyle Bush when he was getting his early start and watching Kyle

come up through those ranks and his ability. There was one story that a gentleman here

thought Kyle's first Toyota win and it was historic win, obviously, because that was

Toyota's first win in the NASCAR Cup Series. And so when you hear then stories too of, hey,

I got an autograph from Kyle and this is how kind he was. He remembered me not, you know,

at the next race that the person was at. So Kyle left a legacy for all of us, especially if you

were a fan of Kyle. He left an impression. He left. He was grit. I was thinking about it on the

drive over like what was Kyle Bush? Kyle Bush was the definition of grit and the 2015 championship,

I think, is the perfect illustration of who Kyle is, you know, going out, coming back,

and battling to win a championship that year. So the mood is somber, like we said,

but I know there's some people over there trying to keep it light and trying to keep it. Hey,

what was your favorite moment? What was your favorite memory? And I think that's so important

in these moments. I tend to agree. And again, if you're just now joining us, this is a special

bringing the heat, discussing the life of Kyle Bush, who tragically passed away at the age of 41,

the two time Cup Series champion, the winningest driver in the history of NASCAR. Derek Yoder

here with me. We've had Dalton Hopkins and Michael Massey on who will also live in Charlotte.

We had earlier on, we had Tanner Marlar on. We've been trying to play videos,

go through statements of people. Please, we have a great relationship. Please drop your

comments, your favorite Kyle Bush memory. Derek, I turned to you. You're a race fan at heart.

We all are. What was kind of a memory you think about with Kyle Bush and kind of,

I know you're a branding guy. You're a director of sales, by the way. So you definitely,

so I kind of want to ask you, you know, Kyle Bush does have one of the infamous brands legacies

in terms of, you know, the 18 M&M's car. It's part of an iconic scheme. Like,

you could argue it maybe was one of the last ones we'll see in NASCAR because it's sort of faded

away. Like, talk about kind of that kind of legacy that Kyle leaves behind with, you know,

obviously the M&M's car is probably the, if you had to like, if he had to pick one car for him,

it's going to be the 18 M&M's car. It has to be when it comes to Kyle. Yeah. Yeah, it has to be

from a branding perspective. And I think that's one thing that Kyle really brought to the table

was he brought not only the team element, then started his own team. The other thing that Kyle

did obviously is on track talents are undoubtable. Like they are incredible, his accomplishments,

but the amount of drivers that Kyle helped to bring into his organization,

drivers that he helped to bring into the stable. I mean, I was at Pocono a couple years ago,

representing Front Stretch when he got his 100th win, I believe, or 200th win at Pocono,

and it'd be Corey Heim. And having some of the relationships with some of their partnership

groups and seeing his ability on track was incredible. And I remember watching Kyle Bush

back in even like 0.708 when, you know, he was the best driver, didn't matter which series it was.

So his own track talent speaks for itself, but just the ability that he saw in other people.

And now we're starting to hear more and more stories of this is who Kyle was. This is

the experiences that the fans or us on the media side got to see of Kyle. And I think

that storytelling is so cool. But the brand element, like you said, that number 18 yellow,

we all see it, it's a vivid memory. I think Kyle will leave a legacy not only of some of those

brands and the people that he met, but also the fans. And I love what I'm hearing over here

in these moments. And so Kyle Bush will be remembered for so many great things.

I mean, again, you mentioned it, the 200 wins and everything that goes along with it.

Like this is, you know, he has the most wins in the history of NASCAR.

Yeah, if you combine the top three series. Derek, I know you're a busy man. We appreciate

you doing this, driving down there. I'll leave you with some final any final thoughts on

Kyle Bush. And thanks so much for the time.

Yeah, no, absolutely. I just, as a father, a husband, my heart goes out to his family. And so,

you know, I'll keep them in our prayers as we're going to do here. And I appreciate you

having me on tray. And for all the Kyle Bush and Rowdy Nation fans out there,

we have front stretch or thinking of you all. Absolutely. Like I said, that was Derek Yoder.

Kyle Bush tragically passed away at 41. He was there at RCR. He's still going to be there,

so check out the front stretch socials for more some photos of fans heading there

and honoring the legacy of Kyle Bush. Now, another person coming in is Mike Neff,

now joins us. Neff, good morning or good evening on unfortunate tragedy that has this. I'm just

going to let you open the floor to you. Take us through kind of your emotions that you're a guy

who is truly a historian of this sport. You know, you're the you're the old guy

for our website. Can you put into context like how truly good Kyle Bush was is an all time great.

He's, I mean, you know, you get into the arguments that we all have all the time.

And yes, he doesn't have a pile of championships at the cup level, but he's he's top five.

Absolutely top five. You got Dale Earnhardt, you got David Pearson, you got Jimmy Johnson,

you got Jeff Gordon, and he's right there. I mean, yes, Bobby Allison's there, Dale

Walters up there. But he's got 200 and some wins. And he easily if he put his mind to it when he

because he's and that's what I was I was chatting with Chris on the way coming in

from the family side of this. And that's kind of the road I want to go down because everybody's

talking the racing side so much. But he had the plans that he was going to quit cup racing

and go win that truck title. So he was the first one to do it to have all three and he was going

to do it. I mean, you know, as well as I do, he owns truck racing. And it just he had the plan

in place and he was going to win it. And then he was going to go aside and let Brexton move into

his truck and come back up the way he did. And it was just I just I can't wrap my arms around

this right now, because he's easily top five in the sport. And you can argue all you want about

wins at the lower series. The wins that Richard Petty had in most of his career were against far

less competition than Kyle was facing in trucks and bush. But I just and again, I want to go down

the family side of this. My heart absolutely breaks for Samantha and Brexton and Lennox,

his brother, his family. But just what I've seen happen with Brexton has been amazing. Because

and let's face it, we're all dorky little kids when we're growing up. And I honestly in seeing

Brexton when he was first coming up to the racetrack and first trying to race. I'm like,

he's just doing this because his dad does it. He didn't have that like fire and passion. And he

took it and he ran with it. He has he has turned himself into a race car driver. And

it was so cool to see how excited Kyle got talking about what Brexton was doing and talking about

where he was at and talking about Lennox. I mean, and that's the other angle on this.

My heart breaks so much for Samantha because

I mean, she molded Kyle into what he became. Because let's face it, he was a

jag off when he was first in the sport. He didn't care what he did or who he pissed off

because it was just about him. And Samantha stood by his side all the way through this thing

and turned him into the man that he became. And he is

so much different. I don't want to say better or worse because everybody can judge with that on

their own. But he is such a different person. And he was so much better to be around even in the

cup garage on a regular basis. It was awesome to be around him at local short tracks and doing

the races away from the cup circus because he and Kurt both when you got them out of the cup

circus, they were great. But he just he he became he became a gentle kind. And and I I hate that he

got to this point in his life. And then it was ripped away. And it just it's awful.

Yeah, you mentioned it. I do want to Joe gets racing did issue a statement. Our hearts are

broken for Samantha Brexton Lennox and the entire Bush family. Kyle was a fierce competitor,

an incredible teammate, and far more importantly, about husband, father and son.

He sent back to our organization and on our sport of NASCAR will never be forgotten.

During this unimaginable future, everyone at Joe gets racing and the Gibbs family are lifting

the Bush family up in prayer. We talk about that side of things. I'm glad you brought that up.

Now, if I do want to talk about Brexton and like his future in terms of his talent, which is

we've seen. But you talk about the side, the philanthropy side, they've done a lot with the

IVF thing and helping families raise children and and you know, have have children and yeah.

And like, it does feel like you look at Samantha and, you know, the fact that Samantha and Kyle

are very open about that part of their journey. It does seem to me like this, you know, this

second half of Kyle Bush's career, truly, you know, and talking about later in his career,

finally getting embraced by the fan base. It does feel like this, you know, and Kurt had

the similar kind of career arc in terms of becoming, you know, maturing as he got older.

But Kyle's like, you know, true maturity as he got older was one of kind of the most

amazing aspects of his entire career. I agree. Yeah. He I mean, he learned how to channel

his drive and he's still and we heard it a lot in the last couple of years. It's really

hated the way things were going and didn't mince words about it. But when he got out of the car

and went to team meetings and went home and was in places other than a race track,

he was a much homer, gentler guy than he was in his 20s. And I just I

I am sad that we don't get to see where he was going to go with everything that he was going

to do because I mean, you mentioned IVF stuff. Samantha also does her thing where they get

like fancy dresses donated to them and help kids that are under privilege be able to go

to their proms and actually dress up and look really nice. And that's been sam did that long

before she did the IVF stuff and she still does it. And it just they are so philanthropic and so

helpful to people in need. And I can't imagine where that was going to balloon to as he became an

elder statesman. And again, it's just it's ripped away. And I'm trying to understand how to handle it.

Now, if you might be and we'll have Tom Bowles hopefully join us throughout this stream,

to add the context to this, because so far the we've had the younger generation.

I've compared this to the death of Dale Earnhardt in terms of just the suddenness,

the shockness, the part. The shock, yes.

You know, obviously it was a different incident, but like even like they were in very similar arcs

of their career where they were towards what we thought was the back end. But it felt like

maybe this was a reset point. You know, Dale felt like going to that season, he felt like a reset

point and he had a really good Daytona 500. And you know, we're coming off of six days ago,

Kyle winning in the truck series. And it kind of felt like with the way he he he kicked everyone's

butt. It was like an old like, oh, okay. So he's still he's still got this. Like he kicked

everything. He had forgotten how to drive. Can you can you can talk about kind of like

how I don't want to say eerily similar because again, they were very different, you know,

different happenings. But it does feel like for maybe this generation, this is very similar to

that kind of moment in 2001 where we lost Dale Earnhardt. I compare it to that. But then again,

that was a racing incident. And that's the one hope that I hold out of this for brexton

is that it wasn't a racing incident that he might hold it against racing. I at least I'm

hoping that because it wasn't a racing thing, that's not going to taint him towards racing

because I want to see him be a champion like his dad was. But I honestly put it more in context

of Davey Allison and Alan Kawiki, because those were away from the track events. And those were

also guys that were, I mean, Davey was still on the ascension. Alan might have been a little

later in the career. But just the fact that you're, you know, you're going along doing your thing,

looking forward to the 600. And now the lineup has changed. And I mean, I was stunned to see the

note come out that somebody was going to be in the eight car this weekend. I'm like, I just was

like, he's in the hospital. They're just giving him some fluids and stuff. He's going to be fine.

And then eight hours later, he's gone. And it just, but, but yeah, for this generation,

I try to think of it, you know, because we haven't really lost anybody big in racing in,

since probably Dan Weldon is probably the last one I can think of. You know, we've, we've lost

Kenny Irwin and Adam Petty, same right around time of Dale Earnhardt. But since then, the

sports becomes so safe that we're not losing drivers. And so it's a different experience. But

you know, we lost Greg Biffle in December and now we lose, we lose Kyle. It's, but this is,

yeah, this one is a level that hurts the, the all fans. I mean, whether you like Kyle or hating

Kyle, it still hurts. And it's a hole that's going to be in a garage for several years to come

before it gets filled in. Do you want to display a tweet from Ray Hornaday?

Chris, if you can throw that up there. Thank you. We were fierce competitors on the track,

but Kyle Bush was without a doubt one of the best to ever do it. Racing loss or Ron Hordak,

excuse me, racing lost an incredible talent today. My heart breaks for Brexite and Linux

and the entire Bush family during this unimaginable time. Obviously,

those two guys had some infamous run-ins in the NASCAR, Crestman, back in the day.

We're, we're, we're pouring through statements and we're seeing, you know, the entire racing

community. Did you try to get Hendrick and Jeff Gordon? Cause they both.

I got Rick Hendrick. I was about to read Jeff Gordon.

We're live folks. We're doing our best weekend. Jeff Gordon, this is a devastating loss and one

that is hard for the NASCAR community to process. Kyle was a fierce competitor who demanded the

very best from himself each time he put on the helmet. As teammates, I saw firsthand the passion

and intensity he brought to the sport every single day. He was a champion, a prolific racer

who made a tremendous impact on NASCAR and was a lifelong advocate for any forms of motorsports.

Beyond the track, he loved his family deeply and was incredibly proud of Samantha Brexton-Linux.

My thoughts are with the entire Bush family during this difficult time. Chris, I'm going to send

you a photo of what's going on at IMS if you can display it. They're doing, they have a really

nice tribute there. If you can't, just let me know as we are live here on Facebook, YouTube,

and Twitter, talking about the life of Kyle Bush. I'm Trey Lyle. That is Mike Neff. We've had

Derek Yoder join us who is live at RCR. We had our two Atrack reporters for this weekend at the

Coca-Cola 600. Michael Massey and Dalton Hopkins join us. Tanner Marlar joined us at the top.

I do want to thank you all for joining us as we are reacting live to the news. We appreciate

all your comments in the comment section. Just so many to keep up with. It is a great conversation

going on there. We love that and we love the memories that are being made here at the racetrack.

Other quotes from today, Clint Boyer mentioned, I just talked to him Friday in complete shock

as we are. The devastation and sadness beyond words, praying for Samantha Brexton-Linux and

his entire family and loved ones. Chase Briscoe, who had kind of an infamous moment,

like one of the most kind of his breakthrough moment as Chris is displaying what's going on

currently at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Kyle, who is one at Indianapolis, has won at the

brickyard getting a really nice tribute, but you go to Chase Briscoe and kind of the moment that

Chase Briscoe involved Kyle Bush. He says in his statement, this doesn't even feel

real typing this. He's one of the absolute greatest of all time. Any track, any car,

it didn't matter. He was going to be good. Getting a race against Kyle was a true pinch

me moment. I'll never forget the first time just sharing the track with someone I had so much respect

for. Two of my favorite wins of my entire career came going head to head against KB and what made

them so special was the fact that I was racing against KB, someone who I consider one of the

all time group best. Getting to know Kyle throughout my NASCAR career and has been a highlight for me,

whether I was racing door to door with him or talking to him about Samantha Brexton and Linux

and what all they had going on. I always had to tell myself how cool it was. I was getting to be

around one of my heroes. I'm going to miss everything about KFB and I can assure you no race I can

run from now on will feel the same because the impact Kyle Bush left is unlike any other driver

could ever have. Thoughts and prayers go out to the entire Bush family and all of Rowdy Nation.

Godspeed KB. Chris is going to display. I knew you were talking about family. His son's birthday

was the other day and they put a great photo three days ago and I do want to take a moment

and show that photo. It's very emotional. I'm getting more emotional thinking about

Brexton and Linux and their kids and you talk about Brexton. Brexton is

really a really talented race car driver from his ability. He seems to have that kind of Kyle

Bush edge where he wants to win so bad. It does feel like he's going to have

and we could talk about the unexpected pressure that comes into his life but it does feel like

there's now a really cool opportunity that at least Kyle Bush's legacy will live on

with a guy like Brexton who has been to his credit winning and pretty much everything

like his dad did as there's the photo from the birthday of a beautiful family and just three

days ago. I can't even put in like I'm hard. It's really hard for me right now to put into words

seeing that photo. Thank you so much Chris for pulling that up but Neff it does feel like

Brexton is on a path where he will have a real shot at having a real racing career.

Absolutely and the thing that I think we're going to see in the garage and in the sport

is you're going to see people at least try to step in to be mentors and to help Brexton

with his career. I would not be surprised to see somebody like Dale Jr get him in a late model

or Kevin Harvick get him in a late model when the time comes. We don't need to be rushing him.

We don't need to be putting pressure on him but at the same time he's already shown abilities

and it would not surprise me to see him get into cars tour level equipment that is capable

winning and ultimately to getting in a truck getting into an O'Reilly car and if he shows

the talent then he goes to cup. If he doesn't I would hope that there will be people in place to

make sure that he doesn't overstep his bounds but the family that is NASCAR is going to embrace the

young man and help steer him in the direction of being a full-time racer if he chooses to do it.

I mean again we all grieve different and this grief is going to be monumental to that family

and how he handles it we don't know. Nobody will know and he doesn't know right now I'm sure

but I think that as it evolves and as it grows on and people step up to help that young man out

I think you're going to see him around the sport for a long time and I think you're

going to see him succeed. As we're here here we have a clip that we can play from Friday

his victory with him in Brexton. Can we run that Chris?

That was from again his win just six days ago which is just very

it's hard for me to put in words right now what I'm seeing in that video. Again if you were just

now joining us Kyle Busch tragically passed away at the age of 41. I want to issue I'm trying to

do my best to read through statements from drivers. Another infamous rival which you talked about a

little bit earlier was Brad Kizolowski. Obviously I think the moment that kind of got everyone's

attention with Brad was when he called Kyle Busch an ass at Dover Motor Speedway but then of

course Kyle with the ultimate comeback of like. No that was at Bristol. I didn't see it yeah it was

at Bristol did I say Dover that's where you got the last one. Yeah it was during driver intros at

Bristol. And then Kyle Busch goes on to win the race and infamously says I didn't see a statement

but I was passing him all night as he was lapping him. Brad Kizolowski I made him earn every victory

and he stole a few from him and stole a few from him along the way.

We took our shots at each other in the media and on the track but I like the thing that's

somewhere deep down there was an appreciation that we pushed each other reform at the highest level

even if neither of us would have omitted it. Tonight I feel like a coyote with no more

road runner to chase. His loss is all of our loss but none more so than his family. Thinking of

Samantha Brexton Lennox who lost their father today. That's a beautiful statement by Brad Kizolowski.

We talked about his rivals. We talked a little bit about Dale Jr. We talked a little bit about

Joey Logano but Brad falls in that category as well as kind of one of the infamous rivals of Kyle Busch.

You see Derek Nieland put something out on the Twitters. I read that. Are you

ready? Okay then I'll shut up. Yes I did, Neff. I got you buddy but again I'm trying to counter it.

We're hopefully we'll get some more people on as we as we get through this. Neff I do want to

ask you do you have a favorite sort of memory of Kyle throughout your years of covering him?

Yeah Lee that's a loaded question.

I know it's stupid and has nothing to do with winning races. I think one of my

lasting memories with Kyle was the the camera incident at Charlotte when the camera fell and

cable got all wrapped up in his car. I remember being in his pit box when that thing came in

and there was the the car was sliced and diced like nobody's business and just

I to this day that was just one of those weird experiences that you have and see him but seeing

him at the snowball derby you know and everyone knows I'm the short track guy so I like seeing

him in other elements and seeing him at the snowball and just and it was it was peak Kyle

because you know he was getting booed by everybody at that thing and he just relished in it.

You could just see how much fun he had with it but at the same time he was at the snowball so he

wasn't he wasn't snarky like he would would often be at the cup track so I mean that and 100 wins

in the O'Reilly series that that's another one that sticks with me just because that was

I mean that was a number that you didn't really expect to see anybody get to at that level because

you don't have that long of a career at that level and he didn't he just won a crap ton of races

and that's how I pulled it off and I was looking forward to 100 wins in trucks but sadly we don't

get to see it. Another statement here is from Jesse Love my first hero the first driver I ever

wanted to be like you were bigger than life since I was a kid I dreamed that one day I could be like

you too I'm just one of the many kids you have gotten that dream to and I've never stopped looking

up to you my heart is with Samantha Brexton and Linux the Bush family and friends your fans and

everyone at RCR there's no doubting that you gave everything you had you left nothing on the table

you inspired me gave me dreams and helped me in ways I wish I've gotten the chance to tell you

you always be my first hero and I'm going to miss you and that was from Jesse Love.

Neff you've been through this before on a race weekend when unspeakable tragedy happens

what do you what think happens from here obviously there's there's the fact that you

know there's the biggest one of the biggest maybe the second biggest race of the year is

Sunday is the Coke 600 this is the biggest weekend in motorsports this was a day a while ago we

thought Kyle Bush would do a double um what is what is kind of and uh this is your

final thoughts um uh give you some final thoughts on kind of the legacy that is Kyle Bush and and

kind of the emotions of this weekend there will be knee-jerk reactions you're gonna get all sorts

of people screaming and hollering that we should retire the 18 and retire the eight even retire the

five but it's racing racing goes on so I don't think we need to go that far I think I would

rather see people live on racing in those numbers and paying homage to the guy that was good in him

you're gonna see tributes like crazy and then they're all justified and it's the part that again

racing's a family and even if you can't stand somebody you never want to see something tragic

or just even horrible happen to him so we'll all join together as this happens um

we still remember that this weekend is about those that have paid the ultimate sacrifice so I don't

I don't want to see people trying to turn this into a full-on only Kyle Memorial thing because

that's not about this weekend but as the racing season moves on you're gonna see all sorts of

stuff go on I hope that they make Vegas a big race for memories to Kyle it would be really

neat and it'll be up to Kurt I think it'd be really neat to see Kurt or Brexton be the one to wave

the green flag at Vegas I think that would be an awesome thing but you're you're just gonna see a lot

of love around the bushes and around the garage and and like I said everybody grieves differently

and it's gonna hit people in different ways and you're you're gonna see people do some things

good and bad in the next month or two that you don't expect and it's just because it's all part

of the grieving process so I'm I'm glad I got to see kfb race um I I won't deny I've been a fan

since he first was doing it I mean you got to love anybody that they change the rules

because of you you know I mean yeah they made it harder to get into the trucks

because he's coming in at 16 and looking like he's gonna beat everybody so I I'm

unmeasurably sad but at the same time you know he's he's now up there bench racing with Dale

and you got to know they are sharing some crazy stories um but I got I'm gonna miss him

and I pray so much for for today I'm in the kids and their families because I just I can't

I can't even imagine being in that situation so I I thank you for letting me come on I think

you let me participate in this thing and we'll talk a little bit in the morning I hope uh and then

Christmas racing Christmas watch party is this weekend so looking forward to that too but for

now godspeed kfb we're gonna miss you buddy that was mike neff frontstretch.com as we get a quick

switch to my counterpart each week so thanks neff uh now we have Caleb Barnes here who joins me a

lot on Bring the Heat Caleb uh you're you know you're you fall in you know we go from an old man

to a younger fan uh your initial reaction to the news about uh Kyle Busch tragically passing away

at the age of 41 hey I mean I think it's all all the words have been said today plenty of times

just shocking heartbreaking I just um hated it so much and like uh keep like every time I get on

social media and scroll and see the post just kind of makes me tear up again to see everything

everybody talk about um what Kyle meant to them uh the first thing that popped in my head of course

was just those those images of him um with brexton and linux um just the the the family bond that they

had like I was thinking of like um that that clip of linux putting makeup on Kyle's face and just

the the grand the smile that he had and um just just uh thank you all I've been listening a little

bit heard uh neff talking and then Derek before and just the pride that he had to talk about brexton

and his racing career um like I know things weren't going the greatest for him the last few years on

the cup side of things but um everything off the track seemed like um he was he was like from from

the the heel that he used to be he was making such a turn um into just an amazing racer that

people were really getting behind and rooting for and so just I that was I was finishing up my day

at work and um whenever I saw that and um like just a bunch of people are working on newsroom and

there's no walls but a bunch of people that didn't even watch racing um as we kind of started talking

about it like just all all the people that like recognize his name and and all that um but it was

just interesting to see just because of how how big of a name Kyle bush um was and and is and had been

throughout even the recent years in NASCAR so just super heartbreaking to see that news come out and

he had just super sudden like seeing the clips of his post-race truck interview and of course like

that's kind of been the thing with a lot of these stars is like you never know when your last one's

going to be but um just like hearing that in retrospect six days later it's just super hard

to hear and um yeah just absolutely heartbreaking just hate it for um for for the rest of the bush

family for Samantha for brexton linux and definitely be praying for them in the coming days

you mentioned the crossover it's like the front page of ESPN is Kyle bush and there you have a

conference finals in basketball and a conference finals in hockey which is happening in the Riley

area and they did a nice tribute before the before the game uh the caroline hurricane's game for Kyle

bush uh it does seem like you know he's truly one of those like one of the true crossover stars

in this sport you know Pat McAfee tweeted about him and i i'm like you know uh it does feel like

this is NASCAR truly lost this this iconic figure of the sport yeah he i mean he just didn't care

for for for worse earlier on in his career but for better later in his career you know for worse

early in the career he didn't care and he was saying whatever he wanted and uh getting fined and and

that's where people really disliked him but then also like it made the haters hate him even more

made his fans love him even more um and just but like as he got older that that level of like he

just didn't care just stayed the same but it turned into him um doing more sorts of things just outside

of the comfort zone of many other drivers and just all the sorts of media things that he would do

the shows that he would go on um and again just uh from from from young kyle to um older more

better in season kyle uh he just he said what was on his mind and that's that's what made people

love him hate him but that's that's what made him such an iconic um polarizing figure in the sport

and i know that's what like i uh whenever i got home um i started like digging through all my all

my old die casts to see if i could pull out all my kyle bush ones just to um try to go through

some of the memories um you know like i know trey you're you're the richmond guy that's that's

whenever i started getting their racing um i lived in their the richmond area and um like i started

out as a huge dale jr fan and one of like the earliest nascar memories i have is um kyle bush

getting loose underneath dale spinning him out at that richmond night race and um like i i hated i

hated that guy after that race i couldn't believe it and then um just as he got older like it was

that man in the m&m's car it was the coolest looking car every single week but the guy behind

it i couldn't stand him that he was leaning all those laps and um just as he continued to get older

like um i think i saw him win a few races at richmond um i was there uh bristol dirt 2022

hoping i was going to see a cool winner with chase brisco entirely right going at it and then of

course they wrecked each other and i had to watch another kyle bush win but um like looking back

at all those moments um it is one of the even the last few years it like makes you appreciate

the kind of driver that he was like the the chicagoland battle that he had with kyle arson

and um kind of getting out the fun that he had after that it just makes you appreciate um the

kind of driver the kind of uh energy he brought to the track a couple more statements to read this

is from anton vencent the president of the mars snacking company most notably obviously

imams at mars we were deeply saddened by the sudden passing of legendary nascar driver kyle bush

kyle drove the number 18 m&ms car for 15 years and brought home the nascar monster cup series

championship in 2019 he represented our brands with great passion elite elite preparation in a

deep and abiding loyalty kyle never ran a race that he didn't think he could win always made

time for his adoring fans through it all kyle's focus was always his beautiful family we extend

our deepest condolences to his wife samantha and their three children and his mini family fans uh

mark reyous of the president gm says the shocking news of kyle bush's passing is devastating to me

and to everyone at chevrolet and general motors our hearts go out to samantha their

children brextan linux and the bush family everyone at rcr kyle's lesions of fans and all of rowdy

nation he was a fierce competitor who found success both as a driver and team owner as well as a

generous benefactor to countless families with the bundle joy fund he founded with samantha

on top of all that he found time to be a true friend to us all uh so um we are uh just sitting

here live on the air we appreciate everyone joining us this has been uh just our way for

his fans and for us to kind of talk it out this is uh a good one and i do want to remind people

uh this just reminds me you know he won six days ago uh and and chris did roll his victory lane

interview a little bit ago um it it reminds me to just remember to love like all the people you love

how much you mean to them and how much you mean to your friends so uh kyle i want to say

i mean i appreciate everything buddy uh as we we go through this uh it it does seem like this is

you know the outpouring of news not just from the nascar world it's the entire motorsport

rule you have formula one issuing a statement you have Mercedes issuing a statement um this does feel

feel very different than anything that you've and i at least have experienced covering a sport like

you know uh like the last time i felt this way about an athlete and his sudden passing was

coby bryant we've compared it to dale earnhardt um but like it's now i'm not i don't think

kyle bush was to the level of what coby bryant was in terms of just worldwide fame but in terms

of that kind of like cult like figure this kind of larger than life persona you know having coby

tragically passing away so soon and so suddenly and kyle bush passing away so suddenly

there they are eerily similar yeah and um just the status of i mean you read that statement from

the um mars m&m people like i mean m&ms was in nascar for a long time with um like you know with

the 36 car had a number of drivers through that had um the 38 for a little bit but i think for the

majority of nascar fans um like when they think of m&ms and nascar they think of kyle bush and

like that that had a lot of power in its own especially when nascar was at its peak of like

m&ms just the popularity of and that they had with the candy and everything like you saw that 18 car

in a lot of places as well um and then yeah just like the the the figure that kyle bush was i was

also thinking back to like the first time i got to go cover a nascar race was um back at richmond

in 2023 uh practice got rained out and so uh like this again this is these were people that i had

looked up to my entire life and um all of a sudden one by one they all start coming in the door in

the midi center at the same time and like for about us like i saw 30 seconds i was just star

struck because these were all guys that like i kind of idolized as a kid and then

uh pierce we've lost kaleb uh for a moment um christ can you run i know you uh you said you

have the video from uh the carolina hurricanes they ran before game one of the eastern covert's

finals uh down in raleigh today the sports world lost a legend kyle bush two-time nascar cup series

champion passed away this afternoon at the age of 41 our thoughts are with his family

friends and fans around the world

thank you

today the sports world lost a legend kyle bush two-time nascar cup series champion

all right we are so we lost kyle for a second we're going to bring in the head man at front

stretch dot com uh tom bols who is at uh indianapolis uh for the indianapolis 500

boss man welcome on in uh we are about an hour and a half through this whole thing um i just

want to open the floor for you um uh can you um just talk through kind of your emotions throughout

the day uh as you uh as we uh are speaking through an unspeakable tragedy

so it's i'm very numb um the whole thing for me unfolded really quickly so you know i'm in indy

covering the indy 500 and doing doing stuff for for fox and like i you know when bush was

hospitalized and we found out about it this morning you know we were i was caught off guard

like everybody but i didn't really think much of it and like i was about to walk out you know

there was an event that that i actually had to go to tonight indy 500 welcome event and i'm walking

out and you know i had a source of mine just whisper in my ear that this was really bad

and that we needed to get on it and that you know this was far worse than had been reported

and so things immediately changed and we shifted into gear and like you know it was just kind of

like a crazy whirlwind where i went from like publish this hospitalized and there's nothing

seriously wrong to like reading on twitter that he had passed away after frantically starting

to talk to sources and realizing like the gravity of this and so i think in that sense like you guys

have been on air now for like over an hour um any minutes worth or any minute about any minutes is

that crazy um you know we have all these people joining us and you know i'm just i'm just numb

right like i i just haven't even had a chance to process and you know the event that i was just at

i'm gonna have to adjust the camera after this so i'm not like speaking to you to you from an

angle i mean but that's how kind of in shock i am it's like you know trying to just stop and

think through basic things you know i was at this at this welcome event everybody's just kind of

sad numb definitely cast like a poll over the proceedings and and make no mistake even though

you know i'm in open will and this weekend cow bush had a lot of friends here cow bush was

beloved here tony canon you know sent a really nice tribute out you've seen a lot of tributes

scott mcgloughlin um said something nice uh on x and it's just everybody doesn't even know what to

think um everybody doesn't everybody's like what just happened right like people are people are numb

tom you mentioned that you're in eneanapolis with uh people from uh you know covering the

eneanapolis 500 an event that cow bush unfortunately was never able to part partake in

someone we thought that that could uh we're as we we go through this you're you're someone who's

covered the sport for for a while now you we have compared i think at the end of the day i'm

comparing it to two tragedies one in nascar one outside and it's the death of dale earnhardt and

the death of coby bryant and now i don't know if kyle bush is in that sort of tier of athlete but

in terms of colt like figures he does kind of have that sort of presence it does feel

very the way it was so sudden the way it was so shocking the way he was gone way too soon it feels

like one of those just unspeakable tragedies of this true icon like how bush is an icon and it

feels like we can't even put the words like his his true legacy because he he's a career cut weight

his life was cut way too soon where he clearly still had talent to win races at the highest of

levels kyle bush bryant allon said it best to me over text message kyle bush is this generation's

dale earnhardt and he could never really match earnhardt's charisma i would say with uh on track

performance but in terms of what he did on track and the success that he had on track he was this

generation's dale earnhardt i mean you look at all of his wins across nascar's top three series

you know well over 200 wins you know across the top three you know more than richard petty had

and you know people didn't like comparing him to petty with that record but it was in i mean he

would go down to trucks in a riley and just dominate the field in a way that any other cup driver that

went down into those series couldn't do um you know just i mean it's one thing's so hard to process

i'm sure you guys have already talked about it he was a winner in the truck series

this past weekend you know how do you go from a winner to this i mean it's just it's it's shocking

and and you look at how he was so good for such a long period of time right and he did it with

two of the best teams in the sport he spent his first couple years at hendrick and was so good

at hendrick and then he goes to joe gibbs racing has an amazing 15 year career there wins two

championships i mean relevant in the 2000s the 2010s 2020s so few athletes can be relevant for

that length of time and even today trey if you just stopped a random person on the street and said

you know hey name three nascar drivers and you know i know he hasn't won in a couple years

i guarantee you that kyle busch is in that top three his name recognition is still well beyond

any of the the rising stars of this sport today even even more than say a ryan blaney i would argue

you know connor zillich can't hold a candle to the amount of people that know and respect and

saw kyle busch and his prime no of him no of his success it is a monumental loss for the sport

and you know 41 years old i just trey i keep thinking in my head i i just keep thinking of

samantha and i keep thinking of the kids and brexton and the fact that like

a couple of days ago they were celebrating a birthday and now he's not with us it's just

unfathomable and i i i feel so much for them i mean he was a family guy trey i mean that's

one thing that i feel like is something that really needs to be said about him like he really

really loved his family and he loved the idea of racing against brexton i mean this is what

he was going to do right like this is like he was sticking around i feel like in part because

of you know brexton and potentially like racing with brexton in the truck series part of me felt

like you know there's struggles with rcr this year he didn't really have many other options you

know we thought that you know he might go elsewhere jordan bianchi who you know was just on our happy

hour this week was reporting he might resign with rcr but it seemed like you know it was going to be

hard for him to reach you know where he was you know in the cup series right he wasn't going to

to win five or six races ever again or contend for a championship potentially ever again there but

you know he was sticking around for brexton and he wanted he wanted that he wanted to run a full

truck series season with his son and i just i keep thinking about that and i keep thinking about

how precious life is and how that's that's been taken away from them and i my heart hurts for that

yeah the hardest part of this stream has been seeing that birthday photo of brexton

who's 11 years old uh i can't imagine losing a father at 11 um i'm so like

today's another day to remind folks and i keep saying this like tell the people you love

and you care about that you love them and that includes you tom just you know as a friend a

mentor i do appreciate you a lot and as we go through this process um a couple more questions

for you i know uh you have busy time and it's been a hard day uh the legacy that

kyle leaves behind and you you've sort of touched on this um i want to ask about the kind of this

idea that he was kind of the first young true young guy to jump into the sport maybe dale

junior paul's in that category as well where you know when kyle bush was going into the cup series

it was an older man's game like you didn't get the cup series till you were you know really in

your 30s kyle was a teenager when he got to the cup series like talk about kind of kyle being kyle

being the first true kind of uh setting i guess setting up this idea that you could have these

18 19 year old 21 year old kids racing at the cup series level well you're right when kyle bush

came into the sport in 2005 he was what 19 years old i think for his rookie season turned 20 in may

of his rookie season so he was somebody that you know was much younger than what we were used to

and i feel like you know the success of tony stewart dale junior matt kenseth just opened the door

for people to think that rookies could win right away um but yeah i think he changed the game he

changed the game and showed that at 19 20 21 years old you could move up to cup and be successful

and look this guy was knocked down early in his career when i first started covering the sport

full-time uh you know one of the first big stories that i covered was what happened with dale junior

right dale junior leaving teresa earnhardt and his family owned team to move to hendrick and

hendrick you know listen i think one of the more complicated things as we process all this

you know kyle was a handful in his younger days and that's not at all taking away from the success

that he had the personality he was you know all the greats are complicated all the greats um you

know the pressure they put on themselves to win and just you know kyle was very aggressive on track

and very very aggressive off it and and rake hendrick didn't want to deal with that and you know moving

you know dale junior into that spot that could have broken kyle at such a young

age and instead he turned around the next year at jogith racing and had arguably looking back one

of the best years of his entire career and he ended up having a very successful 15-year career

at jogith racing i mean just winning two championships really being in contention

almost every year of the playoff format right like he had a couple years where you know he was off

you know i think 2009 was one of them but for the most part he was in contention every single year

through the end of the 2010s and you know his first championship i think is something look it

can be debated whether or not he should have won it right missing also all those races but as injured

as he was you know messing up both feet in that first wreck in daetona start the season and then

three months later to come back and to win five races and to just light the field on fire come

all the way back after missing all those races make the top 30 in points qualify for the post

season and then turn around and win the championship that is an incredible feat and you know we'll never

see that happen again of course with the way the playoff system has just recently been changed

but how he was able to do it it just come back after all those months on the sidelines and be

better than he's ever been is really really impressive and that's one of the things i'll

remember covering him just remember about him is you know the way he handled that season and the

way he handled that injury and i i feel like that was a turning point also for his career i think he

was you know more mature after that i think he grew up a little bit after that and he he won

those two championships in that five-year span where he was just at the top of his game every

single week and in that to me is is part of the legacy that that he leaves i mean i think i think

that was the peak of his career i'm gonna allow you to leave with uh what was ultimately your

kind of you got a favorite memory of of kyle bush as we get on out of here

you know i was thinking about there's a lot um i was thinking about the last time that like

you know he raced gibbs and was reflective you know and you know going up to him at phoenix and

you know i got to that scrum late but i so i wasn't able to ask a question but like

just thinking through the end of his time with gibbs and like the complicated weekend that he had

and you know i feel like it was such a tough thing for him to move on from joe gibbs racing i mean

15 years there and you know the sponsor leaves and they weren't able to get the sponsor money and it

was just an awkward divorce and you know i almost want to remember him like that i to me that was

an end of an era and i just remember the emotion in that in those couple minutes him getting out

of the car and just thinking through what the 15 years has been like with or what was like with

gibbs and that was an end of an era right because he really you know he won those few races in his

first year with rigid till this racing the next year but he hasn't won since i can't believe

him using it in the past 10th tense those were the last times he's ever going to visit victory lane

but he he was you know that was that was where he he excelled right was at gibbs that's where he built

his his whole career and like to be there the moment that he exited the car for the final time

and to to see that raw emotion and and to just be a small part of that um even though it wasn't

you know sit down one-on-one interview at that point like that was a moment i remember from

his career and and the other thing that i would say is you know i talked about 2015 him winning

the title but like his his rivalries with drivers are you know i know that's not one specific moment

but i think so often these days we don't get the emotion that we should from some of these guys

that are pre-programmed machines and that they come out and they say the thing that the sponsor

wants them to say instead of what they're actually thinking and then the camera turns off and then

they turn toward you and they tell you what they're actually thinking as soon as it's off the record

you know i really respect that kyle bush he ruffled a lot of feathers in the garage area

but i think he was authentically himself for the entire time that he was in nascar and i think we

see that less and less these days with these guys with all of these obligations and these millions

of dollars thrown at them and they have they feel like they have to behave a certain way i think

i think we've seen that with ross just in the last couple years feeling like you know he can't

be truly himself he has to act a certain way to please the sponsors and i i don't think

kyle bush ever strayed from who he actually was as a person and i think that's one of the reasons

why the fans loved him so much and i feel like that's what relates him the most to earn heart and

was not just the on track aggression it was that nobody was going to make kyle bush stop being

kyle bush right um no race team no crew chief he was going to go out there and show up give it 110

every single day and be himself and that's that's what i'll remember about him

boss man thank you so much uh for hopping on thanks to everyone who joined us christ

i appreciate you for uh you and i for riding out this journey uh unfortunately it with the

circumstances hate that we had to do this but appreciate we're able to breathe all together

and i hope people who lost uh who whoever were to watch or listening this maybe back on the

podcast feed or reading through the comments um uh thanks so much uh again we'll just end with

prayers to the entire bush family uh and yes anyone and rowdy nation uh unfortunately

kyle bush tragically passed away at the age of 41 for the latest coverage of it and the

coverage of this racing weekend please stay tuned to fun stretch dot com portray liles

signing off for now good night everybody

um

Bringing the Heat: Remembering Kyle Busch

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Dover Motor Speedway rivalry moment

Brad Kizolowski

Richmond night race

top 30 in points

injury and months on the sidelines

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