Chase Elliott reflected on the loss of Kyle Busch and whether it compares to similar tragedies experienced by his father, Bill Elliott. The latter had witnessed the deaths of Dale Earnhardt, Neil Bonnett, and Kenny Irwin.
Busch’s passing has cast a dark cloud over this weekend’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Drivers like Bubba Wallace broke down in tears when the No.33 Chevrolet was rolled out in place of Busch’s No.8 entry.
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Wallace had his start in NASCAR when Busch gave him a Truck Series ride with his own team, Kyle Busch Motorsports. Many Cup drivers have come through the program and have paid tribute to Busch this weekend.
NASCAR reporter Steven Taranto asked Elliott whether his father had given him any advice on handling the loss of a competitor.
“We’ve talked about it some. I can’t say we’ve necessarily compared it to some of those losses. I’m sure they’re all different in their own way. But certainly, I think he was as shocked – and still is – as we all are in all of this. Unfortunately, he has lived that more than I have. It’s just not a fun place to be.”
When he met the press at Charlotte, Elliott wore a t-shirt featuring Kyle Busch’s son, Brexton Busch. The two-time Cup champion had just celebrated Brexton’s birthday three days before his passing.
In honour of Busch, Richard Childress Racing has made an emotional promise to Brexton. The team elected to retire the No.8 entry and has reserved it for the 11-year-old.
Chase Elliott addresses potential Most Popular Driver award for Kyle Busch
Chase Elliott has long-won the Most Popular Driver award after Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s reign. His father Bill Elliott similarly had a long stretch with the honour.
However, the veteran racer recused himself from the award the year Dale Earnhardt died, just so it may go to the seven-time Cup champion. When asked if Chase Elliott would follow in his footsteps, the No.9 driver replied,
“I would be in extreme favor of Kyle winning the vote. I think that he’s a guy that certainly poured a lot of his life into this sport. Although he might’ve been getting boos a lot of weeks, he also had a lot of fans, and a lot of really passionate fans.”
“I really haven’t processed all of that, I guess, to get to that point. But I would certainly be in favor of him winning and whatever it took,” he added via aforementioned source.
Kyle Busch is usually viewed as a villain in the series. Teams were frustrated by his brash personality, and it irked them even more to see him keep winning. One such team was RCR, as revealed by Busch’s teammate Austin Dillon.
Edited by Vignesh Kanna
