Samantha Busch commemorates her late husband, Kyle Buschwith an emotional Father’s Day tribute a month after his death.
The NASCAR Champion died on May 21 at the age of 41 after a severe case of pneumonia turned into sepsis, leaving behind his wife and their two children, 11-year-old Brexton and 4-year-old Lennix.
Sunday (June 21) was the family’s first Father’s Day without him, and Samantha shared a heartbreaking post on social media about navigating a day that should have been filled with celebration.
Samantha Busch remembers Kyle on Father’s Day
In her post, Samantha reflected on the Father’s Day cards that had already been received made and the painful reality that there was no one left to report them to.
Read more: Kyle Busch’s wife Samantha made him a powerful promise before he died
“This still doesn’t feel real at all,” she wrote. “I was up all night thinking about what today should have looked like for Kyle and the kids. The Father’s Day cards that had already been made were in a drawer with no one to give them to.”
Read more: Kyle Busch’s 11-year-old son stuns NASCAR fans: You’re Superman
She also thought about the kind of father Kyle was to their children.
He was the father who never missed an opportunity to be silly, to race the kids around the neighborhood, to hold them in his arms, or to stay up a little longer for one more book, one more question, one more moment.
“Nothing made him prouder than Brexton and Lennix’s dad,” she added.
The painful day
Samantha acknowledged that revisiting old memories has been incredibly painfulbut said those moments also reminded her how lucky their family was to have Kyle in their lives.
“Looking at these memories hurts more than I can explain, but they also remind me of how lucky we were to have him,” she wrote. Later in the post, she described the depth of the family’s grief.
Kyle, the kids and I miss you every second of every day. Our hearts ache for you, but it’s more than that. Your absence is something we feel physically. Our bodies ache because we miss you, because we reach for someone who isn’t there, because we love someone we can no longer hold.
Samantha promised that too Keep Kyle’s memory alive for their children, saying, “I will continue to tell your stories, share your laughs and make sure Brexton and Lennix always know how much their father loved them.”
Read more: Kyle Busch’s son Brexton is racing for the first time since his father’s death
She concluded the tribute with a simple message: “Happy Father’s Day. We love and miss you more than words can say.”
NASCAR continues to honor Kyle Busch
Samantha’s Father’s Day tribute came a day later an emotional moment in the NASCAR world.
Richard Childress Racingthe team for which Kyle drove in the NASCAR Cup Series, returned to Victory Lane for the first time since his death Austin Hill won the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Coronado Naval Base in San Diego.
Hill announced this after the race he had been thinking about his deceased teammate during the final laps. “I’m like, ‘Man, Kyle, if you’re watching this race, I could use some help here,’” Hill said.
He explained that a last-minute adjustment to the car seemed to change everything, saying, “And right on that lap that I asked about it, I just started hitting the front brake. … those last four laps the car just came alive.”
After taking the checkered flag, Hill celebrated with a burnout next to a tribute painted on the track in Kyle’s honor.
A month after his death, tributes to Kyle continue to pour in, both from his family and the racing community he left behind.
The history of NASCAR in 30 stunning photos
Since its founding in the late 1940s, the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing – better known as NASCAR – has seen incredible moments, history-making wins and heart-stopping photo finishes. Keep reading to look back at some of the powerful images that tell the story of NASCAR.
Gallery credit: Carena Liptak
Leave a Reply