Kyle Busch passed away on May 21st after pneumonia reportedly progressed to sepsis. Athletes, teams, and fans shared messages of remembrance, with several describing him as an inspiration and personal hero.

He was known as the ‘Rowdy’ for his persona on the track. He was cast as NASCAR’s villain even before he had a chance to prove himself. While talking about Busch on his podcast ‘The Dale Jr Download,' Earnhardt Jr. said the late driver wanted to be liked.

“Kyle wanted to be liked. Kyle wanted to be a fan favorite," he said. Dale Jr. further spoke about the ‘Rowdy’ wanting validation for the NASCAR world. 

“Deep down in there, Kyle wanted affirmation, he wanted approval, he wanted people to recognize his statistics, his greatness, his wins.”

He further added, “He kept winning right, and he’d win and win and win and look around and go, ‘look at what I'm doing? Look at what I've done!’ he wanted to acknowledge, and we all weren't as quick to give it to him.”

Over his career, Busch leaned into the villain role he was assigned. He went so far as to accept the boos, which also fueled his wins. He was mostly noted for his post-race feuds and outlandish behavior. 

But beneath all of this was a driver who just wanted to be appreciated and accepted by the fans and drivers alike. 

Dale Jr. Opens Up About an Unfulfilled Plan Involving Kyle Busch

The late RCR driver and Earnhardt Jr. shared a complicated relationship for much of their careers, most notably due to the crash at Richmond in 2008. However, the two eventually made up.

During the recent episode of his podcast, the NASCAR Hall of Famer revealed that Kyle Busch expressed his desire to drive the No. 8 car for JRM in late model racing. 

“I was texting with him the day before he passed away about getting together this Thursday to bring his seat for his late model over to my shop. Because we had agreed that he was gonna race our car in the Cars Tour. And he goes, ‘I wanna run the Dale Jr. 8. And I was like, ‘You got it. That’s what’s on it right now. We’ll run the Dale Jr. 8.” 

After mending their relationship, the conversation moved from just on-track racing to building teams from scratch and becoming fathers. 

Read more at the RFK Racing Digest!

Written by

Chionia Libania Colaco

Edited by

Ankita Yadav