Kyle Busch and Samantha Busch’s 15-year marriage was full of love, laughter, and support for each other. Fans got to see plenty of that, from their celebrations in Victory Lane to the way they stood by each other through the ups and downs. But there were also plenty of stories fans never knew about. And some of them show that Kyle was just as competitive in love as he was on the NASCAR track.
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Samantha has been sharing stories from their marriage with the NASCAR community since Rowdy died on May 21. And in a recent Instagram post, she showcased the garden at her house, including a particular corner that has a heart-shaped ornament that Kyle stole while on vacation in Cabo.
Samantha revealed that they were walking to a hotel for dinner one night when they spotted a tree filled with these hearts. They loved them. And Kyle, wanting to surprise her, excused himself to go to the washroom, picked up a steak knife, and got to work.
“So my husband, he goes and he steals his steak knife at dinner, pretends to go to the bathroom, cuts this [big heart] off a tree, completely steals it, shoves it under his shirt,” Samantha said on her Instagram post. “Like, everybody is watching, it’s obvious.
“He had a couple of margaritas, so he had some courage going, and is giggling the whole way. And he has that under his shirt as he’s running up the stairs.”
Kyle, in true romantic fashion — or as Samantha said lovingly, corny fashion — turned it into a Hollywood-esque dialogue, stating that he went out to steal a heart for her, just like she had stolen it.
Samantha and Kyle met rather incidentally in 2007, when Rowdy was a young Cup Series driver and Samantha was working as a promotional assistant at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. She shared the fond memories of meeting the love of her life during last month’s Brickyard 400 at the iconic racetrack on Instagram.
The fact that Kyle was a NASCAR star wasn’t known to Samantha, who jokingly asked Kyle if he wanted to take a ride in an air-conditioned car. They then did a few laps around the speedway. Later that night, Samantha got to know who he was. They began dating, got married in 2010, and had two beautiful children together.
Getting to see this side of Kyle, one of the most beloved ‘so-called villains’ in the sport’s history, is special. It’s a human side of a fierce competitor who left behind a massive hole in the NASCAR community with his untimely and tragic passing. Fans love the stories Samantha shares to keep his memory alive as more than just a racing driver. And so do we.