Kyle Busch, whose legendary brashness often brought boos raining down from tens of thousands in the grandstands, once joked about being the most popular driver in NASCAR.
This was tongue in cheek, because it came smack in the middle of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s 15-year run of being voted the most popular driver.
Busch, in his delightfully devilish way that was adored by some and abhorred by others, had another way to look at it.
“I think they should change it to the most loved driver,” Busch said early in the summer of 2009 when he was seemingly caught in nonstop controversies from smashing guitars to spinning rivals. “Everyone loves Junior so he’s going to get it, but if you look at things, I’m the most popular within the media talking about me all the time, most popular among the fans calling in, good or bad.
“People are obsessed with everything I do.”
There were countless reasons why NASCAR fans couldn’t take their eyes off Busch’s every move for more than two decades – and many of them revolved around Busch’s immense talent behind the wheel of any race car.
The two-time Cup Series champion scored a NASCAR-record 234 victories across NASCAR’s top three national series. With 63 Cup victories, he ranks ninth all time in NASCAR’s premier series. His first title came after he broke his leg the day before the Daytona 500 and missed 11 races, and his second championship came during a season in which he wrestled constantly to constrain his dissatisfaction with the rules package.
With wins at nearly every track in NASCAR, he is a surefire first-ballot Hall of Famer.
But the case can be made that Busch would be just as deserving for all the interest he stirred up in the sport. Virtually anything the Las Vegas native ever did – both in and out of a race car – could make enormous headlines and often did (and NASCAR frequently was the beneficiary with the national attention as the byproduct).
It started almost from the moment he entered NASCAR as a 16-year-old in 2001.
In his seventh truck series start, Busch was pulled from the event at California Speedway (after turning the fastest lap in practice) because the track and title sponsor R.J. Reynolds said he was too young for a race with a cigarette sponsorship. (That Big Tobacco was involved with racing for more than three decades before the issue cropped up speaks to the magnitude of which Busch was such an enormously regarded phenom.)
The incident led to NASCAR changing its minimum age restrictions to 18, keeping Busch out of its national series for another 18 months.
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - JULY 26: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 Skittles Toyota, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Crown Royal Presents the Jeff Kyle 400 at the Brickyard at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 26, 2015 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Kena Krutsinger/Getty Images)
NASCARMedia.com photo by Kena Krutsinger/Getty Images
Upon his return, he was rarely out of the spotlight as he quickly advanced into NASCAR’s premier series.
He won twice as a rookie in 2005 with Hendrick Motorsports, but after two more tumultuous seasons, he was booted out of the ride and replaced by Earnhardt. Busch went to Joe Gibbs Racing, where he started a 15-year run with his most memorable season ever.
He ripped off wins in eight of the first 22 races in 2008 and made no secret it was a Hendrick revenge tour. Before romping to a prestigious Southern 500 win, he flipped off his former pit crew while on a prerace parade lap at Darlington Raceway.
The most mesmerizing moment came at Richmond Raceway in May. After punting Earnhardt Jr. while racing for the win, Busch needed a police escort out of the track and later got death threats.
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 racing teams. I was super eager for us to get on better…
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) May 21, 2026
The voluminous boos kept growing – Busch still got the loudest reaction in driver introductions, dwarfing the decibels garnered by the cheers for his rivals -- but he never seemed to care while putting on what he called “The KB Show” (or “KFB,” if you wanted the R-rated version). After every win, he stood atop his car and took a bow, reveling in the positive and negative crowd reactions.
A few times, the aggression went a little too far. He was benched for two races by NASCAR and nearly fired by Gibbs when he intentionally wrecked Ron Hornaday Jr. under caution in a 2011 truck race at Texas Motor Speedway. Busch and Kevin Harvick both were fined and put on probation for a dangerous altercation in the pits at Darlington Raceway.
But Busch enjoyed being defined by controversy so much that he embraced the nickname of “Rowdy” — a nod to the Rowdy Burns movie character who was Tom Cruise’s nemesis in “Days of Thunder.” He raced with a “Rowdy Busch” nameplate above the door of his vehicles in the Craftsman Truck Series.
— Kevin Harvick (@KevinHarvick) May 22, 2026
Even while celebrating victories, Busch found a way to stir up NASCAR Nation.
He notably declared that “This car sucks!” after winning in the debut of NASCAR’s ballyhooed (and simultaneously maligned) “Car of Tomorrow” at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2007. In the 2009 Nationwide Series race at Nashville Superspeedway, Busch found a unique way to handle the guitar trophy that is given to the track’s race winners.
Channeling the destructive flourish of a rock star, Busch slammed the guitar into the pavement with impressive ferocity that would have made Pete Townshend blush.
His chief foil was Brad Keselowski (who memorably called out Busch in Bristol driver introductions the night after getting wrecked by him), but Busch feuded with nearly every Cup driver at least once (including Hall of Famers Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon).
I made him earn every victory 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’d like to think that somewhere deep down there was an appreciation that we pushed each other to perform at the highest level, even if… pic.twitter.com/1dAq7Eui7D
— Brad Keselowski (@keselowski) May 22, 2026
His colorful, polarizing personality and captivating exploits made him the lightning rod of NASCAR, which he remained right up until the stunning announcement of his death at 41 on Thursday.
The shocking news immediately made waves on national news broadcasts. It brought numerous social media tributes from the drivers who respected him and from high-profile celebrities and high-ranking government officials, a testament to his enormous sway.
There were fewer headlines in recent years. Busch was in the midst of a career-long 105-race winless streak in Cup. But he still had the talent to visit victory lane – dominating from the pole position in a truck race at Dover Motor Speedway six days before his death.
And he still enjoyed tangling with his competitors. Busch once threw a punch at Joey Logano after a Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2017 (a week later, he went the Marshawn Lynch route and repeated “Everything is great” to every question during a media availability). He took a punch from Ricky Stenhouse Jr. at North Wilkesboro Speedway in 2024. This season, he has verbally sparred with Denny Hamlin, his former Gibbs teammate (whom he once threatened to kill in a team radio transmission after they made contact while battling for the lead late in the 2010 All-Star Race).
Kyle Busch wasn’t just one of the fiercest competitors our sport has ever seen, he was one of the most talented race car drivers I’ve ever shared a track with. We spent years as teammates at Hendrick Motorsports, and even as competitors, there was always a deep respect for what… pic.twitter.com/uAX3o2D0Nz
— Jimmie Johnson (@JimmieJohnson) May 21, 2026
But most of his paybacks were on the track. In just the past two months, he had memorable dustups with Riley Herbst at Bristol and John Hunter Nemechek at Texas.
Busch was unapologetic about his involvement in either incident.
In a sport that loves its villains, he relished wearing the black hat.
“I enjoy it; it’s fun,” Busch said in 2009. “I’m not here to be vanilla.”
NASCAR will be lacking some flavor in his absence.
Busch had millions of fans who loved him. There were maybe just as many who, at times, loved to loathe him,
He’ll be equally missed by both.
DOVER, DELAWARE - MAY 15: Kyle Busch, driver of the #7 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, takes a bow after winning the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series ECOSAVE 200 at Dover Motor Speedway on May 15, 2026 in Dover, Delaware. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)
Kyle Busch takes his final bow after winning the May 15 truck race at Dover Motor Speedway (NASCARMedia.com photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images).
