Few NASCAR relationships have been as layered as the one between Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch — a dynamic that started with track tension, simmered into a years-long rivalry and finally bloomed into a genuine friendship before Busch’s shocking death at age 41.
Busch died on May 21, 2026, after being hospitalized with a severe illness. His cause of death was later revealed to be pneumonia that progressed “into sepsis, resulting in rapid and overwhelming associated complications.”
In the days since, Earnhardt has been opening up about the highs and lows of his decades-long history with the future Hall of Famer — and the conversations he wishes they had sooner.
Keep scrolling for a closer look at their ups and downs through the years:
Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch Had a Rocky Start
The friction between the two NASCAR stars dates back to their early days racing together. On a May 2026 episode of “The Dale Jr. Download” podcast, Earnhardt recalled how their very first Daytona 500 together set the tone for years of tension.
After Earnhardt told the media that Busch had been “a little reckless,” Busch confronted him directly.
“He said something over the roof of the car, like, ‘Man, you better watch it. What you’re saying in the media.’ I was like, ‘What? That was weird. He’s mad?’ He took that really personal; that was not that big of a deal,” Earnhardt recalled. “We didn’t get off on the best foot.”
Kyle Busch Was ‘Frustrated’ by His Villain Status
Earnhardt believes much of Busch’s edge came from being cast as NASCAR’s bad guy — a role Busch never wanted but eventually leaned into through his “Rowdy” nickname, a nod to the antagonist Rowdy Burns from the 1990 film Days of Thunder.
“If I could take a stab at how I think Kyle thought, and what kind of person he was, he was so frustrated that he was kind of cast [as] the villain,” Earnhardt speculated, noting that negativity originally attached to Kyle’s brother, Kurt Busch, had unfairly carried over.
“Kyle comes in and had been cast in a negative way, I remember him saying, like, ‘That wasn’t fair. … People have made this assumption about me that wasn’t fair,’” Earnhardt shared.
He added that beneath the bravado, Busch craved acceptance: “Kyle wanted to be liked. Kyle wanted to be a fan favorite. … He didn’t love being the guy that they booed. He didn’t want that. He didn’t choose [or] prefer to be polarizing. He kind of just had to embrace and lean into it at some point, so he did.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch Made Peace Before His Death
The two drivers eventually buried the hatchet — thanks largely to Busch’s own effort to clear the air.
“Kyle and I had a really challenging existence for many years. But we luckily took the time to figure out our differences and that was something he instigated with a conversation in his bus around how we each managed our racing team,” Earnhardt wrote in a tribute shared via X following news of Busch’s death. “I was super eager for us to get on better terms. But it was he who made the effort for that to be possible.”
The pair even did joint media appearances poking fun at their past beef. “We did some media together also to laugh through some of the things we put each other through many years ago,” Earnhardt added.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Reveals His Final Text Exchange With Kyle Busch
Their friendship had grown so strong that Earnhardt and Busch were texting just one day before Busch’s death about an upcoming CARS Racing Tour collaboration.
“I was texting with him the day before he passed away about getting together this Thursday to bring his seat for his late model over to my shop,” Earnhardt shared. “We had agreed that he was going to race our car in the CARS Tour.”
When Earnhardt asked which number Busch wanted to run, the choice was deeply meaningful.
“He goes … he said it, literally, ‘The Dale Jr. 8.’ I was like, ‘You got it,’” Earnhardt recalled, noting Busch sent an exploding head emoji in response — a nod to how race fans would react. Earnhardt famously drove the Budweiser-sponsored No. 8 from 1999 to 2007.
This story was compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists.
