NASCAR veteran Kurt Busch recently appeared on CNN anchor Anderson Cooper’s podcast, All There Is, which explores themes of loss and grief. The nearly 30-minute conversation centered on his brother Kyle—the winningest driver in NASCAR national series history—who tragically passed away at age 41 earlier this year.
The interview proved deeply emotional, with Kurt fighting back tears as he reflected on racing alongside his brother, the sudden nature of Kyle’s death, and the challenging grief journey that followed.
Early in their discussion, Kurt addressed his role as the older sibling, noting that despite being over six years older, “everything I did, he (Kyle) wanted to do, just as good (and) at the same time.”
Rivals and siblings
Kyle and Kurt Busch at NASCAR Hall of Fame, January 2026
Photo by: via Getty Images
Kurt launched his first full-time Cup campaign in 2001, with Kyle joining the premier series just four years later.
“I did what I could everywhere I went to leave a bridge open and a road paved for him to go through,” Kurt explained. “There were times when we had heart-to-heart talks and he was like, ‘Man, my first-ever NASCAR race, they booed me because of you.'”
Kurt acknowledged that some tension existed between them in those early years, as Kurt’s controversial reputation often cast Kyle in a negative light before he had even turned a lap at the sport’s highest level. While frustrated by the immediate fan backlash, Kyle possessed a fiery personality of his own and eventually became more aggressive and outspoken than his brother at times.
“He took the black hat and rolled with it,” Kurt observed. He referenced their infamous 2007 All-Star Race incident and revealed that the brothers didn’t truly reconcile until their grandmother intervened and forced a conversation during Thanksgiving.
Kurt also confessed that accepting Kyle would eventually surpass most—if not all—of his own NASCAR accomplishments wasn’t easy (and Kurt’s statistics are certainly Hall of Fame worthy, which speaks volumes about Kyle’s exceptional talent).
“That was tough,” Kurt admitted. “I had to grow up and face the fact that you helped him but you’re not as fast as him.”
Despite their competitive rivalry, the brothers shared countless touching moments at the track. Anderson Cooper presented footage of Kurt’s 2012 Richmond victory while driving for his brother’s NASCAR team. As the video captured the brothers celebrating together in Victory Lane, Kurt became emotional as memories flooded back.
“You feel all that joy, right?” Kurt said, voice trembling. “And then I turn to see you and I’m like, damn, yeah, he’s gone. I keep trying to go back to those memories of good when people ask me about things or want to talk. That was one of our biggest highlights together.”
Kurt confessed that recent months have been difficult, oscillating between highs and lows—particularly while watching footage from his NASCAR Hall of Fame induction in January, an event that both preceded and was followed by tragedies within the NASCAR community.
“I’m just very thankful that we had the ride that we did,” Kurt reflected. “For me, this year—these highs of the Hall of Fame induction, the lows of my brother—and I mean, last year in December, I lost a good friend, Greg Biffle, and his family in a plane crash.”
Processing the grief
Kurt Busch, Ryan Blaney, Team Penske
Photo by: David Jensen / Getty Images
Kurt discussed how he embraced therapy several years ago, crediting it with helping him navigate this painful period. He also attempts to visit the track when possible, though acknowledges he cannot do so constantly—sometimes it becomes overwhelming.
“I’m trying to grieve in ways that help people, like my mom, my dad, and Samantha (Kyle’s wife), our crew guys, Kyle’s crew that’s around,” Kurt explained regarding his approach to mourning. “I try to do it where I’m not biting off more than I can chew and back off a little bit. I’m doing another extracurricular race in Washington, D.C. (IROC) and running an old car of mine. When you race your old cars, you have all those old memories of what that car drove like and what it felt like. And so it gives me that release. But then just trying to help everyone get through this and share stories—it’s not going to get any easier, but time will help you.
“And my parents are going to have to talk about it. And people are going to come up and share their stories. I mean, even the dry-cleaning lady in North Carolina, where I live. Been going there for 20 years. She says, ‘Kurt, come here.’ She says, ‘I lost my younger sister around your age.’ I had no idea, but these are those discussions that are part of therapy. I feel like this little therapy session has helped. I haven’t talked about Kyle much.”
Kurt later elaborated on what brings him comfort: “Different conversations help, therapy, going to the track and people giving you a hug. Some people want to talk and some people just give you that soulful feeling of condolences without saying anything. It helps, but can’t go too much. Too much exposure to it is like being out in the sun—you get sunburned. I had that happen a couple of times. And now I’ve learned, okay, that’s enough, I need to go home. It’s just so vivid at the track because everyone has a No. 8 or a No. 18.”
Even during a Cubs game, Kurt encountered someone wearing a Kyle Busch jacket, and in Washington, D.C., a young girl approached him to offer condolences, explaining that her father had worked as a jackman for Kyle early in his career.
At the Coca-Cola 600—NASCAR’s longest race, held just days after Kyle’s death—the Busch family appeared on the grid for an emotional pre-race tribute.
“I didn’t want to go,” Kurt admitted. “I didn’t want to go to the track. It didn’t feel real. I’m glad we went. I needed to be there for my mom and dad, and Samantha, Brex, and Lennix. I was thankful for that moment with NASCAR. As soon as I turned around after this, all the drivers wanted to come up to me and I’m like, of course, thank you. This was rough. I didn’t want to look back. I could feel the presence of everyone behind us, but I just didn’t want to look back. I was still just in shock. We’re all in disbelief, and I think we’re all finding the best way we can to battle through this.”
The day Kyle passed away
Kyle Busch tribute at Charlotte Motor Speedway
Photo by: David Jensen / Getty Images
Regarding the circumstances surrounding Kyle’s passing, Kurt shared additional details, highlighting the profound shock of the situation.
“I didn’t know that Kyle was sick. I had heard that he asked for a shot at the Watkins Glen race, like two weeks before. I know through my physicals and his physicals—we both have arthritis and gout and struggle with sinus issues. I struggled quite a bit, needing prednisone, needing a steroid shot. So I know he probably went through the same thing. It was most likely a sinus shot of some sort, but I didn’t know he was sick. People around him said that he had a little cough here or there. He won a race the Friday before (NASCAR Truck at Dover). He was opening a go-kart track somewhere in North Carolina with his son, Brexton, on Tuesday, the day before.
“There were no signs of what this led to. It’s a normal routine for Cup series guys on Wednesdays to spend a couple hours in the simulator. He was doing his normal session. The session ended around five and he gets out and goes to the bathroom and starts coughing. His crew chief—your crew chief is kind of like your wife at the track, your best friend, you take care of each other and share a lot of secrets with your crew chief.
“When he went into the bathroom, Kyle was sitting on the floor, his back up against the wall. He said, ‘You don’t look so good.’ Kyle’s like, ‘No.’ He asked, ‘Do I need to call an ambulance?’ Kyle said, ‘Yes.’ That’s something that athletes don’t do. Nobody shows weakness—that kind of person. For him to say that, something’s wrong. An ambulance gets him into the hospital. Things are stabilized. Meanwhile, I turned my phone off that evening and I didn’t hear about anything until my dad is calling my girlfriend’s phone at 4 a.m. and that’s when I learned. I rushed straight to the hospital. Just how fast things changed, man. It’s not fair. What I saw happened in a 12-hour period. It was unfathomable. Like inside a horror movie. It wasn’t like we lost time. It wasn’t like we didn’t have good care. It’s just one in a million, and it’s like, no, no.”
Kurt lamented that Kyle “didn’t deserve this,” and spoke about the numerous future plans his brother had in store. It is well-documented that Kyle intended to continue competing at NASCAR’s top level for several more years, with the goal of ultimately pursuing a NASCAR Truck championship—aiming to become the first driver to win all three national series titles—before eventually racing against his son Brexton once he reached the minimum age requirement.
What Kurt misses the most, and how Kyle helped him secure his final Cup win
Kurt Busch, 23XI Racing; Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing
Photo by: Sean Gardner / Getty Images
Kurt feels closest to Kyle when he’s behind the wheel of a race car. While Kurt’s own NASCAR career ended abruptly following a 2022 crash that resulted in a concussion, he has recently been competing in vintage IROC vehicles.
“I actually got in the car a half-an-hour before our practice session, just to sit there and have a little chat with myself and have a little prayer with him,” Kurt revealed. “It’s when I’m getting in the car, I just check in.”
“I just loved the phases that we went through as brothers. We’re six years apart. When you’re teenagers, six years is an eternity of being apart. And then you get to your 40s, and six years is like six days. You’re the same. I love how we went through these phases, even on the race track. The sibling rivalry was real, then helping each other with sponsorships and the key things to make us stronger that we didn’t tell other racers, and then racing on the track. It’s like we were the same mindset and the same thought process on where to make passes, how we drafted with each other. I just loved our synergy on the race track and the evolution we went through. The biggest thing I miss is just that banter, and the unspoken words when we would race each other.”
Kurt recalled a particularly meaningful moment between the two in the final laps before Kurt’s last NASCAR Cup victory. Kyle was attempting to pass Kyle Larson for the Kansas win in 2022 but couldn’t quite complete the maneuver. Once Kurt got alongside his brother for the runner-up position with 22 laps remaining, Kyle actually lifted off the throttle on the backstretch to give Kurt a chance at the leader. Kurt ultimately passed Larson, securing his final Cup win while driving for the 23XI Racing team co-owned by Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin.
“I called him afterwards, I said thank you. He goes, ‘I know, I know.’ Those are the things I miss the most. And that’s my last NASCAR win—he helped me win it.”
