Kyle Busch left behind an 11-year-old son with dreams of racing, a 4-year-old daughter, and nearly 20 years of memories with his wife, Samantha Busch. He built a home in North Carolina where his sandals are still sitting on the bathroom floor exactly where he left them. It has been 27 days since he’s been gone. Samantha posted on Instagram about certain things that seem unexplained, spiritual signs that have happened in the weeks since. Those moments that she says have made the grief feel a little less impossible to carry.

Samantha talked of two moments in her post, that made her go, “He’s still walking beside us.” The first happened at home, about a week after Kyle passed.

“I had one of the hardest nights yet. Most of the night, I spent sobbing, wishing I could feel his arms wrapped around me one more time. I finally gave up on sleeping and walked into our bathroom. There, shining directly across Kyle’s sandals was a rainbow. Not anywhere else in the bathroom, just across his sandals. I literally laid down on them and felt a bit of peace, like he was giving me a sign.”

She was careful not to overstate it. She did explain logically how a rainbow could appear, sunlight hitting the chandelier and reflecting onto the floor. But this moment was different, and she knew it.

“I’ve been awake at every hour imaginable, through every season and all kinds of weather, and I have never once seen a rainbow appear here.”

The second one she shared was at church. A bird flew around during the entire service. At one point, it came to where Samantha Busch was sitting, tilted its head, looked directly at her, and flew away. Later, during a prayer, she heard a noise and assumed it was someone’s phone. She opened her eyes, and the bird was at her feet, hopping along before disappearing. She turned to her friend and asked if she was hallucinating.

“Nope. I see it too.”

“I know some people will say it was just a bird and just a rainbow: maybe they’re right. But standing in the same church where we said goodbye to Kyle a few days earlier, and carrying a grief that still doesn’t feel real most days, it felt like more than a coincidence to me.”

Her beloved, Kyle Busch, died on May 21, 2026. He was just 41. He had been fighting bacterial pneumonia for days while still competing, visibly coughing during races. He first asked for medical attention after the Watkins Glen weekend.

On May 20, he collapsed at a GM simulator facility in Concord, North Carolina. The pneumonia had progressed to sepsis, which triggered a severe blood-clotting disorder that restricted blood flow to his organs. He was pronounced dead the following afternoon.

Three days after his passing, NASCAR held a moment of silence before the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte, a race he was scheduled to run. Richard Childress Racing retired the No. 8 car from competition and announced they are holding it for Brexton when he is old enough to race at the national level.

Kyle’s will, made public on June 16, left everything to Samantha: property, vehicles, business interests, and personal effects. The family confirmed they will not be filing a wrongful death lawsuit. Lady Busch has not sat still through any of these tough times. She has been moving forward, visibly and deliberately.

Life Goes On for Samantha Busch and Family with Echoes of Kyle

Days after Kyle died, Samantha drove unannounced to the Denver District police station in North Carolina. She went to personally thank the first responders who had been on scene the night Kyle collapsed. Sheriff Bill Beam shared a photograph of her standing with three of the officers.

She had been largely private in the weeks before. A brief public statement was made on June 5, and a personal post on June 10 about a promise she made to Kyle at his hospital bedside to raise their children in a way that honours him. The visit to the police station was days after the family held a private memorial service on June 9.

The Busch protege, Brexton, was back on track that same week. On June 8, merely 18 days after losing his father, he raced at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the Cook Out Summer Shootout. He drove a neon-green No. 18 Legend Car with “Rowdy 1985–2026” on the side.

Brex finished sixth from 13th on the grid. The next night, the night of the family memorial, he was back out and finished second. His grandfather, Tom, led a missing-man formation before the race. Kurt Busch posted the footage with: “Go get ’em, Brex.”

Samantha Busch wrote in her post that she believes Kyle is okay, that he is close, and that he is still walking beside them. Based on what this family has done in 27 days, it seems like they are walking ahead.