In Memory of Kyle Busch
All-Star Race:
Denny Hamlin dominated the 2026 NASCAR All-Star Race last Sunday at Dover Motor Speedway. It was Hamlin's third win at the Concrete Mile located in Delaware, and Denny's second NASCAR All-Star race win. It was an eventful race weekend for Denny: he spun in qualifying, still won the pole, dominated the race, and had to charge through the field with the invert and hold off some hard chargers throughout the day. All the way through the cluster that was this format, Hamlin remained large and in charge by manhandling Miles the Monster all the way to collecting his million-dollar check and two trophies.
I'm late on writing this weekend because, as I mentioned previously, my wife and I were on vacation last week. I missed writing about SVG's ass-kicking at Watkins Glen and have been catching up with life and work this week. Yesterday evening, I was caught up (mostly) and was planning to sit down and eviscerate NASCAR over a horrific All-Star format while praising NASCAR and Dover for pretty solid on-track racing. Both things can and are true, to me anyway. But on my way back to my house after an errand, I received the horrific, tragic, heartbreaking, and unfathomable news that we are all sitting with sadly today: Kyle Busch passed away after a sudden illness. Immediately, my eyes welled up, and I was left speechless. Among many friends and colleagues, I am the "NASCAR guy" - a title I proudly wear. My phone was briefly inundated with messages about Kyle. He was that guy - that even friends and colleagues who know next to nothing about racing knew, and even if they didn't know him, they knew this news would not be covered on virtually every channel if he was a nobody. His sudden passing will be difficult to process for a long time, but what's not difficult to process is his impact on the sport and on his family. It's no secret that I was never the biggest Kyle fan, but he won me over after he rallied back to win the title after breaking his leg, and he always had my respect for the once-in-a-lifetime talent he possessed. He will be missed, and my thoughts and prayers are with Samantha, Brexton, Lennix, and the entire Busch family, as well as our entire NASCAR community, during this devastating time.
This weekend, we race at Charlotte Motor Speedway - all three NASCAR National Touring Series are in action. The Craftsman Truck Series kicks off the weekend tonight with racing going green at 7:30 p.m. EST on FS1 with the NC Education Lottery 200. The O'Reilly Auto Parts Series hits the track tomorrow at 5 p.m. EST on The CW with the Charbroil 300. The NASCAR Cup Series hits the track Sunday evening for one of its Crown Jewel races, the Coca-Cola 600 at 6 p.m. on Amazon Prime.
Charlotte Picks: Trucks = Corey Day
NOAPS = Jesse Love
Cup = Austin Dillon
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