I’m stunned, absolutely stupefied. How can Kyle Busch, who seemingly was the picture of health, suddenly die less than three weeks after his 41st birthday (May 2)?

News broke earlier Thursday that Busch had been hospitalized with a vaguely worded “severe illness.” There was no explanation of what the illness was or what condition he was in.

And then, roughly around 5:40 pm ET Thursday afternoon, just over five months after NASCAR lost Greg Biffle and his family and three others in a horrific plane crash, word broke again that Busch, the two-time NASCAR Cup champion, had unbelievably passed away.

For over 40 years, I have made my life with words. But honestly, for one of the few times in my life, I truly don’t know what to say right now. Obviously, my heart and condolences go out to his widow, Samantha Busch, and their two children: son Brexton, who turned 11 this past Monday, and daughter Lennix, who turned four on May 10.

One of the last posts Kyle made to his Facebook page on Monday was the following:

“Happy Birthday, Brexton!!! Your mom & I are so proud of who you’re turning out to be! You’re the best kid on & off the track, you amaze us every day. Keep doing what you’re doing, and there is no limit to what you’ll accomplish! Love you, buddy!”

As great a driver as he was, Kyle was an even better father, husband, and friend.

Sure, as a driver he may have been polarizing to some fans who didn’t care for him, and had more than his share of conflict with other drivers, but there’s no denying the God-given talent the younger Busch brother had: two NASCAR Cup championships, one Nationwide Series championship, 63 Cup national event wins, 752 Cup starts, 102 O’Reilly Auto Parts national event wins and 69 Craftsman Truck Series wins.

Richard Petty may have won the most Cup races, 200, in his career, but Kyle was without question the winningest driver in ALL NASCAR history: 234 combined wins across NASCAR’s all three premier series.

Ever since Petty retired following the 1992 season, folks said that his record would never be broken. And that’s still likely if you’re talking only about Cup victories. But if you bring Kyle into the conversation, there’s no way anyone will ever beat his overall wins record.

Think about it: if a driver entered NASCAR at the age of 21 and retired at the age of 45, that means he’d have to win at least 10 combined races each year for over two decades. That’s a feat impossible to overcome, unless your name was Kyle Busch.

While Kyle went by several other nicknames (both clean for his fans and not so clean by his non-fans) like “Rowdy,” he relished being very similar to Dale Earnhardt, the guy who loved people hating him (it only seemed to make him race even better), as Kyle and Dale were the same two guys who loved to wear black cowboy hats to show how tough they really were. If Dale was ‘The Intimidator,’ Kyle was ‘The Unintimidated.’

Kyle wasn’t just another driver I interviewed countless times; I considered him a friend (and he told me once he considered me the same). While words are hard for me to come by as I write this, and admittedly, so many thoughts are going through my head, memories are not hard to come by, and that’s what we all will have from now on, after such a tragic passing.

With your understanding, I’d like to share some of my favorite memories about Kyle:

1) It was 2002, and older brother Kurt Busch had been promoted to the NASCAR Cup Series by team owner Jack Roush after finishing a surprising runner-up in his rookie season in the Truck Series in 2001. During an early 2002 interview session with reporters, when Kurt was asked how he felt his talent stacked up against other young drivers of that era, big brother could easily have touted how great he was or how he was the next big thing to guys like Dale Earnhardt, Darrell Waltrip, and others. But instead, Kurt walked down a road of humility.

“If you guys think I’m good, wait until you see my kid brother, Kyle,” he said.

Kyle would ultimately wind up being everything and more than what his older bro would brag about.

2) I’d been approached by a large book publisher in 2006, the same publisher that would eventually print my first book: Trading Paint: 101 Great NASCAR Debates, about doing a book on Kyle, since it appeared he was well on his way to greatness. I met with Kyle and his two agents, and while the idea intrigued them, Kyle felt it was too early in his career to have a book written about him.

3) In one of the most somber instances I’ve ever experienced in my career, it was June 14, 2007, and Kyle was in Chicago to promote the following month’s NASCAR weekend at Chicagoland Speedway. It was just Kyle, his PR person, two other Chicago sportswriters, and me in a downtown Chicago restaurant. You could tell he wanted to be anywhere but there, and you would be that way too, as the day before, Rick Hendrick announced that he had signed Dale Earnhardt Jr. to a five-year contract, starting with the 2008 season. Sadly, Kyle was the odd man out in the equation, losing his ride at the end of that season and not having a new team to go to as yet.

Kyle was on the verge of tears several times, but he managed to be the pro’s pro that he always was. He answered all our questions, even if it pained him to respond. After the other reporters left, it was just Kyle and me, and we spoke at length, off the record. I hurt so much for the guy. But if you look at things in totality, it wound up being one of Rick Hendrick’s biggest mistakes as a team owner.

Yes, you read that right if you’re comparing statistics. Sure, Dale Jr. brought in multi-millions of dollars in sponsorship, souvenir sales, etc., to the Hendrick camp, but Kyle wound up going on to the best years of his racing career with Joe Gibbs Racing. Don’t believe me, compare Kyle vs. Dale Jr. in their respective Gibbs vs. Hendrick tenures:

Cup Championships: Kyle 2, Junior 0

Busch/Nationwide/Xfinity Championships: Kyle 1, Junior 2

Busch/Nationwide/Xfinity wins: Kyle 102, Junior 24

Honestly, if HMS had kept Kyle, I’m convinced he would have easily won at least four or more Cup championships. And as for Junior? Who knows if he would ever have won a Cup crown with another team, like Richard Childress Racing, or if he somehow would have stuck with his father’s team (although unlikely since Dale Sr.’s widow, Teresa, appeared to have lost interest in the sport after her husband’s sad passing and her poor relationship with Dale Jr.).

4) Okay, as sad a day as it is, we need to have some levity to try to cheer us up at least a little. Kyle could be hysterical at times. Two of my favorite times were when he showed his incredible talent not just on the racetrack, but, of all things, on the dance floor! Back in 2012, at the height of the Gangnam Style dance craze, Kyle gave his then-Truck team an unexpected “gift” at the team’s annual Christmas party when he broke into full Psy mode (the South Korean singer and dancer who made Gangnam Style popular) and knocked the dance/song outta the park. Kyle also starred in a video of him doing the Macarena dance, but unfortunately, that video appears to have been removed online (although, believe me, he did justice to that dance as well!).

5) In April 2008 at Texas Motor Speedway, Kyle should have embarrassed the heck out of me, but he didn’t, and I’ll forever be grateful. This was the first year of Nationwide Insurance’s sponsorship of NASCAR’s junior league, formerly known as the Busch Series (now known as the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series), and to mark the occasion and to let Texas and national media, such as myself, familiarize themselves with the new sponsor, Kyle gave hot laps around the 1.5-mile oval in a pickup truck. While Kyle was cruising (for him, that is), I was riding shotgun, and because my view of the speedometer was blocked, I naively asked him, “So, what are we doing? About 160 (mph)?”

Kyle could have split his gut laughing, but patiently and with only a slight crack of laughter, said simply, “No, we’re only doing about 85 (mph).”

I didn’t know what to say, so I didn’t say anything else for the remainder of the four laps, although the full red blush in my cheeks sure told the actual story. To Kyle’s credit, even when I brought up my faux pas a few times over the years to him, Kyle was always a gentleman and refused to make fun of my naivete.

God, I’m going to miss that guy. I was so looking forward to seeing him here in Chicago in early July, as it would be a homecoming for his wife, who grew up about 40 miles east of Chicagoland Speedway in St. John, Indiana.

Now, like everyone else, all I have left of him are memories, but that’s who Kyle Busch was: memorable forever. Rest in peace, my friend, and say hello to Greg Biffle when you see him.