Samantha Busch marked her first Father’s Day without Kyle Busch with a tribute to the late NASCAR champion and the two children they shared.
Kyle died on May 21 at age 41 after severe pneumonia progressed into sepsis, according to People and Entertainment Weekly. One month later, Samantha posted a video montage of Kyle with Brexton, 11, and Lennix, 4, and wrote that his absence still felt impossible to understand.
“This still doesn’t feel real at all,” Samantha wrote in the Father’s Day caption, according to People. She said she had been awake through the night thinking about the day her family should have had with Kyle.
She also wrote about Father’s Day cards the children had already made for him, sitting in a drawer with no one to receive them.
Samantha Said Father’s Day Felt Impossible
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The montage showed Kyle holding, playing with and spending time with Brexton and Lennix. Samantha wrote that the clips were painful to watch, but also showed the kind of father Kyle had been to their children.
She remembered him as a dad who made room for small moments, from racing around the neighborhood to squeezing in one more bedtime story. “Nothing made him prouder than being Brexton and Lennix’s dad,” she wrote, according to Fox News.
Samantha said the family’s grief was physical as well as emotional. She wrote that the pain came from “missing him in every room, every moment, every memory.”
She Promised to Keep Kyle’s Memory Alive
Samantha wrote that Brexton and Lennix will always know how much their father loved them. She said she would keep saying Kyle’s name, telling his stories and making sure the children grew up surrounded by memories of him.
Entertainment Weekly reported that Samantha also referred to a promise she made to Kyle before his death. She said she promised him she would help their children chase their dreams, especially Brexton’s goal of following his father into racing.
Brexton has already competed in youth racing, and Kyle often shared that part of their family life publicly. Samantha’s tribute tied that future to the promise she said she made in the hospital.
NASCAR Honored Busch After His Death
Kyle was a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and one of the sport’s most recognizable drivers. People reported that NASCAR honored him at the Coca-Cola 600 after his death, with Samantha, Brexton, Lennix, Kyle’s brother Kurt Busch and his parents, Tom and Gaye, in attendance.
NASCAR chief operating officer Steve O’Donnell called Kyle “one of a kind” during the tribute and said Samantha and the children would remain part of the NASCAR family, according to People.
Kurt also honored his brother on Father’s Day. Entertainment Weekly reported that he wrote about their racing journey and thanked fans for supporting the Busch family after Kyle’s death.