On the night of May 15 in Dover, Delaware, Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott left his tour bus and strolled over to the nearby bus of fellow NASCAR driver Kyle Busch.
Busch had just won the 2026 Ecosave 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at Dover Motor Speedway that day and HendrickCars.com sponsored Busch — who piloted the No. 7 truck owned by Spire Motorsports, in the race. Elliott approached Busch, extended his hand to congratulate Busch on his victory, but something odd happened.
“Chase said, ‘I went to shake his hand and Kyle said, ‘I’ve got a bad cold, so don’t shake my hand,’ and he was coughing,” Rick Hendrick, who owns Hendrick Motorsports and dealership group Hendrick Automotive Group, recalled Elliott telling him.
Later, that same night, Rick Hendrick said he also chatted with Busch after the race saying, “I had called him to congratulate him. We were texting and talking about how ‘there’s more to come.’ Kyle said, ‘I can still do it.’ And I said ‘Yes, you can.’ “
Neither Elliott nor Hendrick realized those would be their last communications with Busch, who would die six days later on May 21. His “bad cold” was severe bacterial pneumonia that progressed into sepsis, killing him at age 41.
“It’s just a shame,” Hendrick said. “God, if he’d just gone to the doctor when he started feeling bad, but he just pushed himself to keep racing.”
Hendrick knows well of Busch’s tenacity to push himself when it comes to racing and life. Hendrick was first to help Busch launch his storied racing career in 2003 and nurtured Busch in the early years when Busch raced for Hendrick Motorsports. Hendrick was also the last to be involved in Busch’s racing career, by sponsoring him in his final win that Friday night two weeks ago.
Between the flags and off the track, Hendrick knew Busch well, heck the two were neighbors during the summer at their lake homes in North Carolina.
Busch’s funeral date or details have not been publicly announced, but Hendrick said it will be the week of June 1 and he will attend it. But first, Hendrick sat down with the Detroit Free Press to tell the story of Kyle Busch and why he meant so much to so many.
Fearless and in control
Rowdy. That was Busch’s nickname. It was a moniker Hendrick said Busch was proud to live up to.
“He would race people pretty hard on the track and he kind of loved the nickname Rowdy and he didn’t mind being the villain sometimes,” Hendrick told the Detroit Free Press. “But when he was around his family and what he did for charity to help other people … he was a great family man and had a great heart for helping people.”
It was in 2002 at a Craftsman Truck Series race when Hendrick first saw what Busch could do on the track. Hendrick does not remember the exact race, but that hardly matters because etched deep in his soul is a performace by a very young Busch that took Hendrick’s breath away. He can only describe it with one word: “fearless.”
“I remember him making moves that were just fearless and having control at the same time. There are a lot of people who are fearless when they start, but they do things and they crash,” Hendrick said. “He was fearless, but under control and that’s something you don’t see come along much.”
Busch made his NASCAR debut in that Craftsman Truck Series at age 16, which was somewhat controversial because NASCAR had just implemented a rule raising the minimum age to 18 for national series competitions.
Hendrick said Busch’s talent at his young age and ability to maneuver the truck like a veteran racer intrigued him immediately.
“He had more talent than anyone I’d seen at that age,” Hendrick said. “I didn’t get to see Jeff Gordon at that age other than on TV. But to see Kyle … at such a young age, it was amazing his talent.”
Jeff Gordon drove for Hendrick Motorsports for his entire NASCAR Cup Series from 1992 to 2015 behind the wheel of the legendary No. 24 Chevrolet. Today, Gordon is the co-owner of the team.
After seeing Busch in that 2002 race, Hendrick said he snooped around and found out that Busch was not under contract with any racing team. So Hendrick immediately signed him with Hendrick Motorsports. Busch was 17 at the time he was signed and would not be able to compete in NASCAR until he turned 18.
“I let my son, Ricky, plan what steps we’ll take so that Kyle was eligible to race in ACRA,” Hendrick said.
A record set that remains unbroken
The ARCA Menards Series is a semiprofessional stock car racing league owned by NASCAR. It serves as the minor leagues for drivers who seek to compete in NASCAR’s top national divisions such as the NASCAR Cup Series.
“We raced ARCA and he won his first race in Nashville Superspeedway and he ran a combined part-time schedule in 2003 with ARCA Series and the Busch Series,” Hendrick said.
The Busch Series, now called NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, is a second-tier NASCAR circuit for drivers aspiring to rise to the bigger series. Hendrick said Busch won some big races in 2004, including the ARCA Daytona race driving the No. 87 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. The 18-year-old Busch held off ARCA legend Frank Kimmel on the final lap to secure victory.
Busch’s first NASCAR Cup Series win was Sept. 4, 2005, at California Speedway in Fontana, California, driving the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. Busch raced for Hendrick Motorsports from 2003 to 2007 and racked up three ARCA Series wins, four Cup Series wins and 11 Busch Series for 18 total wins.
“He still holds the record at our camp with 11 Busch Series wins,” Hendrick said.
‘One of the best drivers I’ve ever seen’
Since signing with Hendrick Motorsports in 2003, Busch had become close to Hendrick’s son, Ricky, who led Busch’s race team.
Then tragedy struck on Oct. 24, 2004. Ricky, Hendrick’s brother, two nieces and six others were all killed when a team plane crashed on the way to a race at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia. Ricky was 24.
“They were very close. They were together until Ricky was killed,” Hendrick said. “They were kind of buds and they raced and grew up together. It was hard on him and hard on everybody. I think he was especially hurt because it looked like that was going to be the future: him and Ricky together.”
After the accident, Hendrick watched Busch persevere and he recalls a couple of stories that reveal Busch’s character when behind the wheel.
In 2003, during an ARCA race in Charlotte, North Carolina, at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, Busch had to start the race toward the back of the pack. So to make up for that lost ground, Busch did a move that to this day leaves Hendrick speechless.
“You can’t go three or four wide into turn one at Charlotte; you might get away with three, but you can’t get away at four,” Hendrick said. “So they go into the turn and Kyle goes up to the wall and he must have passed 10 cars. He went around everybody at the top. I knew he was going to crash and yet he didn’t! That was another example of guts and fearless. That just blew me away.”
Hendrick said he doesn’t remember whether Busch won that race or not, but that almost doesn’t matter. Hendrick will never forgot Busch’s gutsy maneuver as Hendrick held his breath waiting for the “biggest crash” that never happened.
“There were many moments, when I look back at some of the other wins,” Henderick said. “He won Bristol Motor Speedway (in Tennessee) — which is a hard track — in a cup car. It was some of the most difficult places to race that he excelled at.”
In fact, Busch is NASCAR’s all-time leader in national series race victories with 234. He had 63 wins in the Cup Series, 102 wins in the Busch Series, now called the O’Reilly Series, and 69 wins in the Truck Series.
“We only had him for a short period of time, but when you look at all of his wins … I would say he’s one of the best drivers I’ve ever seen,” Hendrick said. “I’ve seen a lot and I watched him win championships and just do some pretty phenomenal things.”
Dedication to family and charity
Eventually, Busch and Hendrick parted ways in late 2007 when Busch saw more opportunities by joining the Joe Gibbs Racing team in 2008. He stayed with Joe Gibbs Racing until 2022. In 2023, he joined Richard Childress Racing, where he remained until his death.
But during all that time, Hendrick said he followed Busch’s career and the two remained in touch and grew a friendship.
“He matured into an unbelievable father, dedicated to his wife and family,” Hendrick said. “He has two children. He did a lot for charity; because of the issues with pregnancy, they started a foundation and he helped a lot of people who were trying to have children.”
Busch and his wife, Samantha, struggled with infertility for more than a decade before having two children: son Brexton and daughter Lennix. The couple started the Samantha and Kyle Busch Bundle of Joy Fund in 2015 to help other couples struggling with pregnancy get access to in vitro fertilization. Since its founding, the fund has awarded $2.4 million and helped 111 babies be born. It is a cause that Hendrick has supported financially.
“He spent all his time with his family when he wasn’t racing,” Hendrick said. “The thing that impressed me as much as his driving is what he developed into as a husband, father and trying to do good in charity for other people. He really took it to heart and made it a passion.”
‘He raced hurt and won’
But on the track, Busch was all business, holding the belief that he could overcome anything — a trait he carried with him to the end. Hendrick recalled an incident in 2015 that foreshadowed Busch’s fortitude when it came to putting racing over his health.
“He broke his leg in Daytona and they almost had to amputate,” Hendrick said.
Busch talked about the 2015 crash at Daytona International Speedway in Florida that left him with the catastrophic leg injury during an interview on FOX News Media’s “Hang Out with Sean Hannity” earlier this year. Busch described how after his car hit the wall, the engine shifted, causing his injury.
“When the engine compressed back and hit that throttle stop, it came back so far that it hit my gas pedal while I was off the gas pedal,” Busch said. “It hit the gas pedal so fast and so hard that my foot was resting right next to it — it smacked my leg and broke my leg.”
Busch suffered a double compound fracture of his right leg and a Lisfranc injury — which is when bones or ligaments in the midfoot area are damaged — in his left foot, he said. He missed several races while undergoing surgery and rehabilitation. But he returned later that same season and won the championship that year and again in 2019.
Hendrick said Busch’s comeback is one of the most remarkable returns in the sport he has ever seen and that it “shows his tenacity and his fortitude that he did that. A lot of guys would have said, ‘I’ll blow off this year.’ But he raced hurt and won the championship.”
A great racer, a great man
On May 20, Busch was at the General Motors Charlotte Technical Center off Speedway Boulevard in Concord, North Carolina, pretty much right next to Hendrick Motorsports headquarters. He was testing in a racing simulator when he became unresponsive, according to Associated Press reports.
People there called 911 when Busch began coughing up blood, according to the 911 call obtained by USA TODAY. The call was not made by anyone in Hendrick Motorsports. But during the call, a man told a dispatcher that Busch was on the bathroom floor in distress, short of breath and very hot.
Busch died the next morning at a Charlotte hospital. Busch had bacterial pneumonia for “days to weeks” before he died, according to a copy of the death certificate obtained by The Athletic on May 27. That means when Elliott went to shake Busch’s hand after the race in Delaware, Busch likely had pneumonia then.
The pneumonia progressed into sepsis, which lasted one day, The Athletic reported. The pneumonia and sepsis were part of a “chain of events” that caused Busch’s death, the report said. The sepsis led to abnormal clotting throughout blood vessels that caused hemorrhagic shock, which is caused by severe internal or external bleeding. That hemorrhagic shock lasted hours, the report said.
Hendrick is distraught over Busch’s suffering. He said he knows emotional pain too well from having lost his own son, his brother, his nieces and employees — all killed in that 2004 plane crash, and now losing Busch, his prodigy and friend. But Hendrick said he also knows how to make peace with such pain.
“I have peace with the fact that he drove for me, he left, he went on to become a champion, he grew up and became a father,” Hendrick said. “He wanted to race trucks and I sponsored him in his last race that he won. I was glad I was able to do something with him and for him at the end.”
Hendrick’s company sponsored Busch in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Fr8 Racing 208 at Echo Park Speedway on Feb. 21 in Hampton, Georgia, where Busch also won.
Hendrick said the team still has the No. 5 Chevrolet car that Busch drove when he got his first Cup win in 2005 in Fontana, California. The car will go on display at Hendrick Motorsports public museum in Concord, North Carolina, sometime in the next few weeks.
Until then, Hendrick said he has his memories, from Rowdy on the racetrack to Busch the man and humanitarian.
“He was one heck of a racer and I got him at a very early age and I’m proud of him for the way he has accomplished his career and his family life and those are parts of his story that someone has to tell. The balance between family and racing — he did a great job,” Hendrick said. “I know a lot of racers who get to climb the mountain and they don’t spend time with their family and do the things he did. From Rowdy on the track, to a great husband and humanitarian, that story needs to be told.”
Jamie L. LaReau is the senior autos writer for USA TODAY Co. who covers Ford Motor Co. for the Detroit Free Press. Contact Jamie at jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. To sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Rick Hendrick’s untold stories of Kyle Busch: ‘He was fearless’
Reporting by Jamie L. LaReau, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
