Kyle Busch

Kyle Thomas Busch was born on May 2, 1985, in Las Vegas, Nevada, the second son of Tom and Gaye Busch, who had moved west from Schaumburg, Illinois. Tom worked as a mechanic at a Ford dealership and was drawn into racing by a colleague, later winning several local short track championships.

Kyle started at six, steering a homemade go-kart while his father worked the throttle. He spent his childhood in the family garage with his father and his older brother Kurt, and by ten he was crew chief on Kurt's dwarf car team. He began competing in 1998 at thirteen and won more than 65 legends car races between 1999 and 2001, plus two track championships at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Bullring.

Busch attended Durango High School in Spring Valley, Nevada, and graduated early, with honors, in 2002 so he could concentrate on his racing career. That same year he made his ARCA debut at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Busch made his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut at sixteen in 2001 for Roush Racing, finishing ninth at Indianapolis Raceway Park. After he was ruled ineligible at California because of his age, NASCAR set a minimum age of eighteen from 2002. He joined Hendrick Motorsports through its development program, was the 2004 Busch Series Rookie of the Year and 2005 Cup Series Rookie of the Year, and won his first Cup race at California on September 4, 2005.

From 2008 to 2022 he drove the No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. He gave Toyota its first Cup win (Atlanta, 2008), won the 2009 Nationwide Series title and set a modern record of 24 combined national series wins in 2010. After breaking his right leg and left foot at Daytona in February 2015, he returned to win the 2015 Cup championship, and he won again in 2019. His crown jewel wins were the 2008 Southern 500, the 2015 and 2016 Brickyard 400s and the 2018 Coca-Cola 600.

In 2023 he moved to Richard Childress Racing and won in his first season. He finished with 63 Cup wins (ninth all time), 102 Xfinity wins and 69 Truck wins, an all-time record 234 national series victories, and he is the only driver with at least 60 wins in each of the top three series. His last Cup start was at Watkins Glen on May 10, 2026, and his final win came in the Truck Series at Dover on May 15, 2026.

As an owner, his Kyle Busch Motorsports won the Truck Series owners' championship in its first season, 2010, and seven times in total.

Busch married Samantha Sarcinella, a Purdue University psychology graduate from St. John, Indiana, on December 31, 2010, in Chicago. Their son Brexton was born in 2015 and their daughter Lennix in 2022. The couple spoke publicly about infertility and IVF, and Brexton followed his father into racing as a winning young driver. Kyle's older brother Kurt Busch was the 2004 NASCAR Cup champion.

Busch founded the Kyle Busch Foundation in 2006 after visiting the St. John's Home in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with a focus on underprivileged children. Its Bundle of Joy Fund supported couples seeking fertility treatment. In 2008 he launched Kyle's Miles with Pedigree to help shelter dogs. After his first Cup win in 2005, he and Rick Hendrick gave the prize money to the American Red Cross for Hurricane Katrina relief.

Busch is widely regarded as one of the most talented drivers in motorsport history. He holds the record for national series wins (234), Xfinity wins (102) and Truck wins (69), and won races in all three series on the same weekend at Bristol in 2010 and 2017. Through Kyle Busch Motorsports he launched the careers of many young drivers. Richard Childress Racing reserved his No. 8 for his son Brexton, and the NASCAR Hall of Fame opened the exhibit Kyle Busch: Honoring A Legacy in October 2026.

NASCAR Cup Series champion (2015, 2019). Cup Series regular season champion (2018, 2019). Nationwide Series champion (2009). Seven Truck Series owners' championships with Kyle Busch Motorsports. Busch Series Rookie of the Year (2004) and Cup Series Rookie of the Year (2005). ESPY Award for Best Driver (2016, 2019). Named one of NASCAR's 75 Greatest Drivers (2023). U.S. Senate resolution in his honor (June 19, 2026).

Busch appeared as a cover driver for NASCAR Kart Racing and NASCAR Heat 2, and as a playable driver and commentator in Forza Motorsport 6. He made a cameo as a West Virginia state trooper in the 2017 film Logan Lucky, competed on The $100,000 Pyramid, and was the subject of the 2022 documentary Rowdy. A wrestling fan, he guest hosted WWE Monday Night Raw in 2009 and briefly won the WWE 24/7 Championship on December 2, 2019. His nicknames included Rowdy (after the Days of Thunder character Rowdy Burns), Wild Thing, the Candy Man and Shrub.

Busch's aggressive style and outspoken manner made him one of NASCAR's most polarizing figures. In 2011 he was cited for driving 128 mph in a 45 mph zone near Troutman, North Carolina, while test driving a Lexus LFA. He apologized, pleaded guilty to speeding, and received a fine, a license suspension, community service and probation. In 2023 it was reported that he had been arrested in Cancun, Mexico, in January for handgun possession and given a 42 month sentence and a fine; he apologized for not knowing Mexican law and said the matter was resolved.

Busch raced at Watkins Glen on May 10, 2026, while suffering from a sinus cold, and by May 16 described his cough as substantial. On May 20 he became unresponsive while testing in Chevrolet's Driver in the Loop simulator at the GM Technical Center in Concord, North Carolina, and was taken to hospital; reports based on the 911 call said he had difficulty breathing and was coughing up blood. On May 21 his family announced he had been hospitalized with a severe illness and would miss the Coca-Cola 600 weekend. He died later that day, aged 41. On May 23 his family said severe pneumonia had progressed to sepsis, causing hemorrhagic shock and disseminated intravascular coagulation.

Fans built a memorial at the Richard Childress Racing museum, and RCR renumbered his car to No. 33 for the Coca-Cola 600, where the field ran a missing man formation and paused on lap 8. A public celebration of life was held at Charlotte Motor Speedway on October 9, 2026. His resting place has not been made public.