CONCORD, N.C. — For the NASCAR community, Memorial Day Weekend has always been a time of special reverence.
In conjunction with the running of the Coca-Cola 600, the “600 Miles of Remembrance” program recognizes those who have paid the ultimate price in defense of our country through placement of a fallen soldier’s name on the windshield header of each car.
“Honor and Remember” are the watchwords of the weekend, and it’s not uncommon for NASCAR Cup Series drivers to make personal connections with the families of the heroes whose names they carry throughout the race.
For most of us, however, the connection is more remote and abstract. While we honor the sacrifice of those who have given their lives in service to our country, we may not be touched directly by personal loss.
This Memorial Day weekend was different. Little did we suspect, when the week began, that we would honor and remember one of our own.
Kyle Busch’s death on Thursday was as shocking as it was sudden, and his memory hung over Charlotte Motor Speedway like the rain clouds that played havoc with the weekend’s activities.
Though NASCAR crowned a winner in all three national series races, none of the three reached its scheduled conclusion. Kyle always was a mischievous soul.
Until the appearance of wife Samantha, son Brexton and daughter Lennix on the grid on Sunday brought home the reality of Busch’s death, the pervasive emotion was disbelief.
“A few days ago, I was still hoping that somebody was going to say that it wasn’t real,” Coca-Cola 600 winner Daniel Suarez said after the race.
Suarez had a close connection with Busch, who guided him and encouraged him through countless texts and phone calls after Suarez left his native Mexico with little more than a dream of competing at NASCAR’s highest level.
There could have been no more appropriate winner of the first race after Busch’s passing.
“I mentioned it a few days ago, but back in 2015, Kyle and I, we used to be on the phone every single week, because he was helping me trying to understand what I needed to look for, trying to understand the race track,” Suarez said.
“Back then we didn’t have SMT, we didn’t have data. So, everything was by feel. If you had experience, you had an advantage.
“He didn’t have to help me. He didn’t have to help this Mexican kid that can barely speak English. He was already a legend of the sport, and he took the time every single week to help me. That for me spoke very, very highly of not who he is as a driver, but who he is as a person. Most people didn’t know that side of him. I got to know that side of him.”
From the perspective of the sport, there was an immediacy to this Memorial Day Weekend like none before.
Before the start of Sunday’s race, after a rare burst of sunlight broke through the clouds above the main grandstand, NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell assured Busch’s family of a permanent place in the NASCAR community.
“Samantha, I want you to know that this sport stands with you, and that you and your children are NASCAR family forever,” O’Donnell said. “And Brexton and Lennix, your dad loved you with all his heart… Kyle Busch was NASCAR. He was one of a kind, and there will never be another.”
Kyle’s brother, Kurt Busch, himself a recent inductee into the NASCAR Hall of Fame, placed eight white roses on the No. 8 logo painted on the infield turf, a tribute to Kyle’s recent tenure in the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. With tears streaming down her face, Samantha held her children close, whispering words of comfort.
In the race itself, a two-tire call by crew chief Ryan Sparks put Suarez in the lead in the closing laps. Through two restarts, Suarez held off a coterie of the sport’s most formidable stars and was crowned the winner when a thunderstorm soaked the track 40 minutes before midnight.
Suarez drives for Spire Motorsports, which bought the Kyle Busch Motorsports truck team and operates out of the old KBM building. Spire co-owner Jeff Dickerson was Busch’s former spotter and business manager.
Suarez drove the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet to victory Sunday night. Nine days earlier at Dover Motor Speedway, Busch won the last race of his career in a No. 7 Spire Motorsports truck.
“This is no coincidence,” Suarez said of his third career victory. “The stars align.”
It’s hard to argue that point.
