By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
From 2008 to 2021, Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) and Kyle Busch were the definition of NASCAR success.
A dominant, powerful and charismatic duo that won all the races you could win and marked itself as an iconic character in the storybook of NASCAR history.
On Thursday, Kyle Busch passed away at the age of 41. And for Joe Gibbs, owner of JGR, the impact of this loss will never fade. Busch was his winningest driver until recently when Denny Hamlin surpassed his win total at the Toyota-based organization.
Still, Busch’s tally of 56 wins for Gibbs was quite a mountain to climb. And he still has Gibbs’ only Cup Series championships in the past two decades.
But the sudden loss spans further than the numbers. Even after leaving the team and joining Richard Childress Racing at the start of 2022, Gibbs holds Busch in high regard as one of the greatest to ever grip a steering wheel.
“The first time I heard about Kyle Busch, Coy, my son, was racing Trucks,” said Gibbs. “I called him to see how it was going after practice, and he said, ‘Hey Dad, there’s a 16-year-old here, and he’s two seconds faster than anybody.’ He said, ‘I hope to kick him out.’ And it was true. It was Kyle Busch, and they kicked him out. He was too young to be there and was so fast. So that was the first time that you kind of hear about Kyle.”
From there, Busch simply burst onto the stock car scene, competing for early championships in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series before jumping to Cup and winning in his rookie year in 2005.
Ten years later, Busch would overcome a broken leg and foot at Daytona in February of 2015 to win his first Cup title come November. A feat hailed legendary by this Super Bowl-winning former head coach, who were in their eighth season together.
“He came back in 11 weeks, and I’m sitting on the box at Sonoma when he came back. That was a road race. That’s what we were really worried about, because of his foot, and the pressure and everything,” he said. “At the end of that race, when he came across that finish line and won that race, they were crying, everybody was crying.
“So, when you think about that, he came back in 11 weeks. He won five races and a championship. As far as courage and determination and a desire to win, I got to tell you, I’m not sure how many people could have gone through that, and handle it that way. He was not afraid of almost anything, and he had a burning desire to race.
Scoring a second title in 2019, Busch was more than backing up his words said off the track. And having other controversial voices on his team over the years {like Tony Stewart and Hamlin), none matched Busch’s swagger.
“Sometimes, you admire the person that’s different, that’s going about things differently, and their passion, they wear it on their sleeve,” he said. “And if Kyle was thinking something, he said it. He wasn’t planning things. He just did things, and I think we all kind of admired that, and I think we love that – that’s part of our sport because our fans love their drivers and the people they’re pulling for.
“I just love the guy, and the way he approached things, sometimes you would question, but he was definitely a unique person, and we really, really will miss Kyle.”
Gibbs lost both his sons in recent years, J.D. in 2019 and Coy in 2022. This experiences of family tragedies makes him focus deeper on the Busch family during this time.
“Our family has gone through this,” he said. “It’s just, honestly, it’s the worst thing that could happen in life. We just want to encourage them. For Richard (Childress) and RCR, we just wanted to work in concert with them. I reached out to Richard and told him that we just want to be together on this.
“We feel so, so much hurt for him, and RCR. Just a terrible thing to happen to them, and what’s happened to him also in the past. We just really want to do anything we can to encourage our RCR, and we want to work together as we go forward with this with them.
“This was somebody that we all kind of admired, a great athlete, that can do things that all of the rest of us you envision yourself, we admire pro sports, because these guys do things that are just, we admire, because it’s unbelievable the talent that they have. Just wanted to share those things with you.”