Kyle Busch was known for his no-nonsense takes and blunt answers in the media. Nicknamed "Rowdy" after the character Rowdy Burns from the 1990 NASCAR movie, Days of Thunder, the late NASCAR star always embraced his villain-like persona. With a personality so strong, Busch never backed down from confrontation, even if it was meant for his own team owner.

Joe Gibbs, the owner of Joe Gibbs Racing, recently shared an incident from 2018 where Busch did not hesitate to criticize him to his face. Speaking about this ahead of the Coca-Cola 600 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, Gibbs said in a video uploaded by NASCAR on X:

"We were at Loudon, New Hampshire, and he finished second. And so I kind of slid over to where they're interviewing people there, you know, because sometimes there might be something I could have to handle afterwards. And so I slid over there, and his interview was absolutely great."

Gibbs then described how his then-star driver turned the heat on him, adding:

"And so I said, well, gosh, you know, he must be happy. You know, he finished second. So he's probably happy. He walked 10 yards to me. I was standing there. And he went just like this. He went, 'Your cars suck,' and he kept right on walking. And some of you (reporters) heard it, because I was nervous. The press heard that, you know what I mean? And so those are examples of just his passion for things."

Joe Gibbs was talking about the 2018 ISM Connect 300, the NASCAR Cup Series race at Loudon, New Hampshire, where Kyle Busch was leading the race for most of it, but Kevin Harvick bumped him in the closing stages and snatched the victory.

Busch joined Joe Gibbs Racing from Hendrick Motorsports in 2008 and stayed with the team till 2022, before moving to Richard Childress Racing. During his time at JGR, Busch won both of his Cup championships in 2015 and 2019.

Joe Gibbs Shares Condolences to Richard Childress After Kyle Busch's demise

Following the death of Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs spoke to fellow race team owner Richard Childress, who lost his impact driver. But more than a generational talent, RCR lost a driver with an unparalleled personality.

"It’s just, honestly, it’s the worst thing that could happen in life," Gibbs said. "We just want to encourage them (Busch's family). Secondly, 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."

Kyle Busch passed away on Thursday, May 21, at the age of 41. He was reportedly training in a racing simulator at Concord when he fell ill. Busch was taken to the hospital immediately after an individual present at the location contacted 911.

However, the legendary NASCAR star did not survive, leaving behind his wife, Samantha, and two kids, Brexton and Lennix. The family revealed that the "severe illness" he suffered from was pneumonia.

Read more at the RFK Racing Digest!

Written by

Sabyasachi Biswas

Edited by

Yask Kotak