Credit: Streeter Lecka/NASCAR via Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. is sharing his last communication with Kyle Busch
- The third-generation driver said that he and the two-time Cup Series champ were planning on working together
- The two had a famous rivalry nearly 20 years ago
Years after their famous rivalry, — sign up now!
Last week, the third-generation driver shared a heartfelt tribute to Busch, who died from severe pneumonia that progressed into sepsis, and expanded on his relationship with the NASCAR star.
“Kyle and I had a really challenging existence for many years,” Earnhardt wrote in a post on X on Thursday, May 21. “But we luckily took the time to figure out our differences and that was something he instigated with a conversation in his bus around how we each managed our racing teams. I was super eager for us to get on better terms. But it was he who made the effort for that to be possible.
Earnhardt added, “We did some media together also to laugh through some of the things we put each other through many years ago.”
The drivers’ animosity towards one another — dating back to nearly 20 years ago when Busch left Hendrick Motorsports and Earnhardt drove his car — once took center stage in the sport.
On Sunday, May 24, Kyle’s wife, Samantha Busch, and their children, Brexton, 11, and Lennix, 4, made an emotional appearance at the Coca-Cola 600 race alongside his parents, Tom and Gaye Busch, and brother, Kurt Busch.
“This was Kyle Busch’s home. Every racetrack was Kyle Busch’s home,” NASCAR president Steve O’Donnell said in a tribute to the two-time Cup Series champion. “He competed like he had something to prove every single race, when in reality he had already proven everything.”
Read the original article on People