The entire world is out there celebrating their fathers today. Yet, on a certain person’s social media the very celebration has become an expression of their grief. As Samantha Busch addresses the public, she writes in the caption of her post: “Happy Father’s Day. We love you and miss you more than words can say.”
The weight of her words is rooted in the deep-seated issues that her family is going through currently. June 21 marks exactly one month since the NASCAR community lost Kyle Busch. Since then, multiple tributes and words of encouragement for the Busch family have poured in. But none could bring down the pain caused by the tragedy, as expressed by Samantha’s raw message on social media.
As she posts an Instagram reel of her family’s best moments with Busch enjoying being a father to Lennix and Brexton, Samantha can’t help but remind the public about the tragedy that has struck her home.
“I was up all night thinking what today should have looked like for Kyle and the kids. The Father’s Day cards that were already made, sitting in a drawer with no one to give them to. Trying to figure out how to navigate a day that should be filled with so much joy for them.
“Kyle, the kids and I miss you every second of every day. Our hearts ache for you, but it’s more than that. Your absence is something we physically feel. Our bodies hurt from missing you, from reaching for someone who isn’t there, from loving someone we can’t hold anymore.”
As a father, Kyle Busch got to experience the joys of fatherhood twice. First with Brexton Busch and then with Lennix Busch. However, that journey wasn’t simple for him either. For seven years after having their first child, Brexton, the couple went through an episode of infertility.
During that time, they faced unsuccessful pregnancy attempts and miscarriages. Finally, in May 2022, the Busch family was able to welcome their second child through surrogacy. From then on, Kyle Busch dedicated himself to being the perfect example of a father.
The culmination of it all came in February 2026. Samantha posted a video of her daughter innocently asking her father to marry her with her late grandmother’s ring. A proposal that Kyle Busch instantly agreed to before sharing a dance with Lennix.
In Brexton’s life, he was guiding the light for his entire career. Brexton grew up idolizing and taking after his father, even adopting a similar moniker of ‘B-Rex’ to match his ‘Rowdy’ during his races. Busch trained him and mentored him to the best of his ability as the years went forward.
It was thanks to Rowdy’s tutelage that Brexton was able to develop his natural racing talent and win a prestigious trophy like the Golden Driller from the Tulsa Shootout.
It was Busch’s dream to race with his son in NASCAR one day. And in order to do that, he set up his own team in the form of Kyle Busch Motorsports. They had a long and successful stint in the NASCAR Truck Series before it was eventually sold on to Spire Motorsports.
While KBM still operates in the junior categories, giving Brexton the best equipment possible, its legacy in NASCAR continues through the drivers that it trained and gave a pathway into the sport.
Kyle Busch, the ‘on-track dad’ from KBM in NASCAR
If there’s one thing about Rowdy and his team, KBM, he never turned down prospective drivers and did his best in order to help them reach the peak of NASCAR. Through multiple accounts of people recounting his readiness to help struggling drivers and the appreciation from the drivers he mentored, it is safe to say that Kyle Busch slowly transitioned into an on-track dad.
Drivers like Erik Jones have no shame in admitting that they owe their NASCAR careers to him.
“He was always the guy that got to kind of pick me from the crowd and help me along, and without him, I don’t think I ever would have really gotten to where I am. I think maybe there would have been some opportunities along the way, but probably not like he gave me with the trucks and the equipment that he had at the time that were top-notch, and I was able to go out and run up front and win,” Jones went on to reveal on Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour podcast.
Similarly, Daniel Suarez, who won the Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Coca-Cola 600 race, dedicated his win to Rowdy in the Spire Motorsports car with a heartfelt message.
“He didn’t have to help this Mexican kid that can barely speak English. He was already a legend of the sport, and he took the time every single week to help me. That, for me, spoke very, very highly of not who he is as a driver, but who he is as a person. Most people didn’t know that side of him. I got to know that side of him,” Suarez revealed after the race.
In many ways, this Father’s Day is a special tribute to one of the best fathers of NASCAR.
