Tearful Kurt Busch Pinpoints One Special Thing He Misses About His Late Brother, Kyle
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Kurt Busch is in a state of disbelief following the death of his younger brother, Kyle.
Kyle Busch died on May 21, 2026. The 41-year-old NASCAR driver suddenly passed away after a case of pneumonia developed into sepsis.
In a new conversation with Anderson Cooper on the All There Is podcast, a tearful Kurt said, “What I saw happen in a 12-hour period is unfathomable, inside of a horror movie. The sequence of events, it’s just horrific. It’s just, how fast things changed…“
As Kurt continued to talk, he pinpointed one special thing he misses the most about Kyle. Since they were both NASCAR drivers, they shared a unique bond as brothers and competitors.
Kurt recalled a race in 2022 that was his final win before he retired from full-time racing in 2023.
“And the biggest thing that I miss is the unspoken words when we would race each other,” Kurt said.
He continued to tell a story, saying, “My last win, at Kansas Speedway [in] 2022, my brother’s [in] second [place], and there was one big slide that my brother missed on taking the lead. And now, his tires are toast. And when I caught him in the next set of corners, it was almost like he knew he was done. ‘Go ahead, brother, you get him, I couldn’t get him.’ He yielded.”
Kurt said you can’t really see this in the race footage, but he knew that’s what Kyle was doing. He said he called Kyle after the race and thanked him, to which he responded, “I know, I know.”
Kurt believes to this day that Kyle helped him win that race.
“It’s poetic, in a way,” Kurt said about their brotherhood. You can watch more from his conversation with Anderson Cooper in the video below.
Kurt Busch Previously Opened Up About The Day That Kyle Died
During a previous interview with Craig Melvin on TODAY, Kurt Busch got choked up as he described the devastating final hours of Kyle’s life. He said everything “escalated so fast,” and before they knew it, Kyle was gone.
Kurt, his parents, and Kyle’s wife, Samantha, rushed to be with him in his last moments. But their dad, Tom, didn’t go into Kyle’s hospital room because he didn’t want to see him in that condition.
However, Kurt chose to go in to see Kyle. He recalled the last thing he ever said to him, which was:
“I said, ‘I got you man. Come on. I got you. I got you, come on. Be strong.'”
You can watch Kurt Busch share more about that heartbreaking day in the video below. Kyle’s family is in our continued prayers…
