Motorsport.com concludes our Kyle Busch Remembered’ series, looking back on KB’s 2015 and 2019 NASCAR Cup Series championships at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Along with two Cup titles, seven of Busch’s record 234 career NASCAR national-series wins came at Homestead. Busch died suddenly this past May at just 41 years old, days fter his final victory in a Truck race at Dover.
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In honor of KB, we’ve been highlighting his most impressive, memorable, or even infamous moments at each upcoming track on the NASCAR Cup schedule. For Homestead, we’re focusing exclusively on his two championship drives at the top level of the sport.
Previously, we covered Atlanta, Sonoma, Nashville, Michigan, Pocono, Chicagoland, Indianapolis, Richmond, New Hampshire, Daytona, Darlington, Gateway, Bristol, Kansas, Las Vegas, Charlotte, Phoenix, Talladega and Martinsville — which you can find by clicking the names of each track as mentioned.
NASCAR CUP: 21 starts / 2 wins / 0 poles / 5 top fives / 11 top tens / 470 laps led
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O’REILLY: 9 starts / 2 wins / 2 poles / 7 top fives / 7 top tens / 487 laps led
TRUCKS: 9 starts / 3 wins / 0 poles / 7 top fives / 8 top tens / 394 laps led
KB did not take part in the first 11 races of the 2015 NASCAR Cup season. He was recovering from a broken leg suffered in a NASCAR O’Reilly crash at Daytona in February. Many wondered if he could make the playoffs, let alone compete for the championship. Well, after winning four races in a span of five weeks during the summer, he pushed through each playoff round and made it to the Homestead finale. There he faced then-reigning champion Kevin Harvick, NASCAR legend Jeff Gordon, and the formidable Martin Truex Jr.
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Busch snatched the lead away from Brad Keselowski on the final restart with seven laps to go, and held on to win it all by 1.5 seconds over Harvick. “I just put it on kill and held it wide open over Keselowski,” Busch said after the race.
On fighting back from a serious leg injury, Busch reflected: “I guess you’re a lot tougher than you really realize whether it’s physically and mentally, but I had to put everything I had into rehab and everything I had into being able to walk and to get through everything that I was going through. My wife was there to power me through and my dog, Lucy, was barking at me to get me through it too. I was just trying to get prepared for my son’s birth and make sure that I could be there for the hospital trip and be able to stand and support Samantha and not worry about being in a wheelchair and stuck on the side of the room, you know? That wasn’t what it was going to be all about.”
Busch was the first driver to ever win two titles under the volatile multi-round elimination playoff format. In 2019, he was part of a Championship 4 that featured Harvick once again, but also Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin. After both of them encountered pit road drama, Busch set sail, winning the race and title by 4.5 seconds after leading nearly half of the event.
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“It’s so much fun to work with these guys, this group, everybody that puts it all together for me,” said Busch after the race. “There are always your doubters. There are always your haters. You know what, this one’s for Rowdy Nation because you guys are the best.”
There was also a lot of emotion behind it for the team as J.D. Gibbs, son of Joe Gibbs, died just before the start of the 2019 season at the age of 49. “I know it’s been a difficult time on Melissa and Joe,” added KB. “To be able to reward them with a championship, I don’t know how much it means to them, but it’s the best I can do. I know J.D. was looking down on us all year long. I mean, damn, what a season Joe Gibbs Racing put together. For as awesome as our group is, everybody back in the shop, how awesome they are at building some really, really special race cars. We put it on them this time.”
Watch: Kyle Busch’s touching words to wife Samantha during champion’s speech
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