A Tribute To A Legend

What constitutes a legend? Surely some level of dominance has to accompany the name, right? Let me tell you about a legend that like many others wasn’t appreciated until he was gone. That legend is Kyle Busch.

 I know I am a few weeks behind on making a post about this but we lost Kyle Busch on May 21st at the age of 41. It was a shocking development that came just a few hours after it was reported that he would be missing that weekend's race, the Coca-Cola 600 the longest race of the season which is understandable to skip with any type of sickness. The entire racing community was left in shock after the announcement that he had passed away.

Growing up an Earnhardt fan, once I was able to recognize his mettle I became a “Rowdy” fan. He had that tenacity and drive to dominate every race he participated in. He drove his heart out every lap and did whatever it took to win every race. When Kyle Busch was on the track you had no doubt that he left it all out there every time.

Now as you may have noted I claimed to be an Earnhardt fan earlier, that has always been the case and nothing changed in that manner in the 2008 race at Richmond when with 3 laps to go as Dale Jr. was leading Kyle “got loose” and spun Jr. ending his day. While Kyle didn’t win the race he did win a new hatred from all of Jr. Nation. So after that I spent many years bitter, especially considering Kyle did a lot of winning after that.

Photo credit: r/NASCAR 

My mindset changed a few years ago. He got pushed out of his ride at Joe Gibbs Racing where he had the bulk of his success then signed with Richard Childress Racing. Now it wasn’t the fact that RCR was where the elder Earnhardt raced that got me coming back around to rowdy. There was something more to it. Since Earnhardt and probably Harvick, RCR has not been the most successful team in NASCAR. I wanted to see Kyle take RCR back to it’s winning ways. I wanted to see Kyle get back to his winning ways. There were some ups in his time and Kyle did get some wins but all in all he didn’t look like himself.

I liken it to when we would watch greats in other sports that maybe beat up on our team but were continually and unapologetically successful then their performance falls off and before we know it we realize that while greatness and history was being made we spent so much time being haters, or is that just me…

Anyway Kyle Busch left behind much more than just an amazing racing career with 234 total wins amongst the top three series in NASCAR, a record by the way, 2 cup championships and many more accolades to go along with it, he left behind a family. A wife Samantha, who will now have to mourn the death of her husband and navigate life without her partner as well as raising their 2 children Brexton A.K.A. B-Rex who celebrated his 11th birthday just days before his fathers untimely death and a daughter Lennix who will now have to go through life without her father. Brexton has already begun his own racing career and raced many races, some alongside his father. He is no doubt going to continue the family legacy no doubt with some guidance from his also very successful uncle Kurt Busch. When Brexton makes it to the cup series the number 8 that his dad drove will be waiting for him to carry on the family legacy.

I cannot begin to imagine how difficult this is for their entire family as well, in a smaller sense, his fans. I pray for the peace of Christ to guide their hearts in this difficult time and when things seem tough and unsurmountable that they seek God through prayer.

I would like to end this article and perhaps all my articles with some encouragement from God’s word. This week I would like to reflect on Psalm 34 particularly verse 18 but I think this whole chapter would apply.

Psalm 34:18

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted

and saves the crushed in spirit.