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Phoenix might have been a great race for Joey Logano and Roger Penske but for most of the NASCAR community, the grand finale of the 2022 playoffs was clouded with sadness. Especially, for Joe Gibbs Racing, as right before their only Cup Series Champion in this era ran his last race, the team’s boss lost his son, Coy Gibbs. Even Kyle Busch couldn’t hold back as he was flooded by emotions.

And it turns out, Denny Hamlin had to hug his teammate before he ran his last race.

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Ty Gibbs lost his father, and naturally, that was an important topic of conversation as a reporter asked whether he would skip a race like Ty did had he been in the same situation.

Busch replied, I think everybody always kind of says that, you know, if it was a family member of mine. I would probably have still ran today because this is all we know. This is what we have grown up doing for life. And so I don’t think that was ever a question that we don’t run today.”

Read More: Self-Proclaimed “Jesus” Ty Gibbs Proves Worth As Kyle Busch’s Successor Amid Outrage Over Petty Move

It’s probably expected from someone like Kyle, whose entire family is passionate about racing. Yet, things got quite emotional even with him leaving.

Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch hugged

But of course, it was also the Two-Time Cup Series Champion’s last race and he admitted it got very emotional. Especially between him and his teammate, as they hugged ahead of the race.

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USA Today via Reuters

The former JGR driver talked about his teammate, “Yeah. I mean, Denny and I as much as we may not see eye to eye or see the same path sometimes. We do respect one another A whole ton. And we will forever. I hope that we have the opportunity to race each other. You know, not as teammates as we have as teammates, at least. And you know, he’s really close to the family. He’s been there since the very beginning.

“We’re both emotional anyways, at the start of it, we both had our reason why I couldn’t even look at my car to begin with. And it was the last time I’m gonna see it now.”

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Would you like to see the two race against each other soon? Let us know in the comments.