Kyle Busch’s family made an appearance at Coke 600. A powerful moment came next
In a stunning moment of tribute, the family of the late Kyle Busch arrived in the infield grass prior to the running of the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday and stood in front of the crowd as NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell boomed a few powerful words into a microphone.
Most important among those words:
“You are NASCAR family forever.”
There, in the infield, stood those who were connected by unconditional love to Busch, the NASCAR all-time great who died suddenly Thursday at age 41 due to severe pneumonia that devolved into sepsis. The Busch family was making its first public appearance since that dark day.
There was Busch’s wife, Samantha. She dug her teary face into her 11-year-old son, Brexton, the newly made man of the house who wore a No. 8 hat and a brave face and whose arm wrapped his mother in a hug. Samantha eventually picked up her daughter, 4-year-old Lennix, who wore checkered-flag bows in her hair. There was Kyle’s older brother, Kurt. His arm steadied his mother, Gaye, who clung to flowers. Tom, the father wearing a hat and sunglasses, stood motionless.
Behind all of them stood the NASCAR community. Chase Elliott wept under his sunglasses. So did Chase Briscoe. Richard Childress, the car owner who gave Kyle a career lifeline in 2023, stood beside Samantha.
We all lost something, O’Donnell said, reading from cards into a microphone in front of a sold-out crowd at Charlotte Motor Speedway. But his hands didn’t tremble when he explained to the Busch family what they didn’t lose.
A memory.
A legacy.
A family.
“We’ve got you,” he said.
“What I think we’ll miss most isn’t the wins, it’s the guy who quietly wanted to help a teammate or give some advice,” O’Donnell said. “Who’s the husband, the father, or the guy who quietly did things for others when no one was watching.”
He continued: “To the Busch family: Tom, Gaye, Kurt, all the folks at RCR and JGR. We are certainly thinking about you, Samantha. I want you to know that this sport stands with you, and that you and your children are NASCAR family forever. And Brexton and Lennix, your dad loved you with all his heart.”
O’Donnell went on to say that everyone gathered there has the Busch family’s backs.
“Kyle Busch is NASCAR,” he said. “He was one of a kind. There will never be another.”
Then followed a moment of silence. Then followed Owen Larson, the 11-year-old son of Cup star Kyle Larson, giving his friend Brexton a hug. Then followed Kurt laying white roses on the infield grass. Then followed the drivers getting in their cars. Then followed the pace laps, the “missing man formation,” with the lead spot on the inside vacant.
Then, on Lap 8, fans stood in silence and put their hands in the air — each hand holding up four fingers. Kyle’s car number for RCR was No. 8. It was yet another connection to the late Dale Earnhardt Sr. For the longest time after Earnhardt’s sudden death in 2001, on every Lap 3 at NASCAR tracks around the country, fans went silent and held up three fingers in memory of Earnhardt’s car number.
Perhaps the most powerful moments of all were the ones that fans couldn’t hear. They were the exchanges with the drivers and their teams over the radio as the field cycled through pace laps. One exchange stood out especially; it was between Austin Hill, the replacement driver for Busch this week, and his crew chief. The discussion was punctuated by something we don’t say enough, that we can never say enough:
“I love you, buddy.”
This story was originally published May 24, 2026 at 7:27 PM with the headline "Kyle Busch’s family made an appearance at Coke 600. A powerful moment came next."
