After Kyle Busch's tragic death on Thursday, IndyCar championship contender Kyle Kirkwood revealed that the NASCAR icon was the first racer he ever met. In 2006, they shared a heartwarming moment, and the hat that Busch signed that day still lies alongside Kirkwood's racing trophies back home.

After Indy 500 Carb Day practice on Friday, Kirkwood, who drives for Andretti Global, recalled his childhood meeting with Busch.

"It was my - actually, it would have been my second race that I think I ever went to, and it was a NASCAR race," he told the media (via ASAP Sports). "My first race I ever went to was 2004, the Coke 400 (at) Daytona. My second race was Texas Motor Speedway. I think it was 2006, maybe. That was where I got the signature from him."

For Kirkwood, it was a moment he'll remember for life because it inspired him to become a professional racer.

"Yeah, that was the first professional racer that I think I met from all forms of motorsports. I remember I got that signature, and for many years, still to this day, I still have that hat. I still have it with my trophies at my house. But I remember that moment, like kind of really turned me on to racing. I thought it was like -- it was one of those moments where I'm never going to wash my hand again, you know?"

At the time of the meeting, Kyle Kirkwood was only seven years old and "fell in love with motorsports" after that. As fate would have it, Andretti Global signed him to its IndyCar team in 2023, and the next year, its sister NASCAR team, Spire Motorsports, signed Kyle Busch for its Truck Series project, bringing the two under the same business umbrella.

The two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion might have been a controversial figure because of his aggressiveness on track, but he always had the respect of his rivals and that of millions of racing fans.

Innumerable tributes poured in for Busch, who died at 41, and among those was another IndyCar icon.

Two-Time Indy 500 Winner Josef Newgarden 'Heartbroken' For Kyle Busch's family

Sitting beside Kyle Kirkwood in the Carb Day press conference was two-time Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden. The Team Penske driver couldn't comprehend the sudden loss of Kyle Busch and felt devastated for his family.

Busch is survived by his wife, Samantha, and two children, 11-year-old son Brexton and 4-year-old daughter Lennix. Newgarden, a father to two boys, explained how it is an "incredibly difficult thing" to even comment on the news, and then added:

"I think it just puts into perspective how fragile life is. You just don't know. Makes me think of his kids, to be honest with you. Gosh, I feel terrible about - I have two sons now. That's the thing that breaks my heart for sure."

Newgarden's further statements summed up Busch's impact on the racing world perfectly. The two-time IndyCar champion highlighted that he wasn't "close friends" with the late NASCAR champion, but did not need to know Busch personally to know that "he was one of the best" and "phenomenal at what he did."

Such was the lore of "Rowdy." Two Cup Series championships, over 230 race wins across the three NASCAR tiers, and achieving many firsts for a driver only captured a fraction of who he was.

Read more at the RFK Racing Digest.

Written by

Yask Kotak

Edited by

Yask Kotak