The Busch Bow is going to live on for a long time.
A celebratory routine performed by Kyle Busch after many of his 234 victories across NASCAR’s top three national series, winning drivers have been bowing in victory lane in the days following Busch’s shocking death last week at the age of 41. Ross Chastain started the trend on Saturday night by bowing from atop his car after his win in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, and he was followed by Layne Riggs and Daniel Suarez.
And now the kids are joining in too.
Kyle Larson’s daughter Audrey won a dirt race on Wednesday night in Nebraska, and afterwards the 8-year-old stood in front of her kart, crossed her right arm in front of her and bowed just like Busch used to.
Last year, at the age of 7, the younger Larson won her first race at Millbridge Speedway — a dirt track in Salisbury, North Carolina.
“I was the video-taping dad on my phone,” Larson said last September. “So maybe if I’d had my phone down and I really was absorbing the moment, I probably would have cried. It was awesome. She’s my only daughter, so she’s got a soft spot in my heart.
“We don’t take it quite yet as serious as Kyle (Busch) or Kevin (Harvick) do (with their kids)… Audrey, I would say, (has) more got the competitive mindset. (She) wants to watch video, run on the simulator, go to the go-kart track and practice, go testing at Millbridge, race as much as she can. I have fun with that because she’s more similar to me in that aspect.”
Kids who grow up with their dads racing in NASCAR often develop friendships and tight bonds. Drivers like Joe Logano and Frankie Muniz told stories this past weekend of watching their children play with Busch’s in the driver lot.
In a touching and emotional moment, Larson’s son Owen walked up to Busch’s grieving son Brexton and put his arm around him on Sunday, just three days after Busch died from what his family called complications from severe pneumonia that progressed into sepsis.
Busch was NASCAR’s all-time leader in combined wins across the top three national touring series. He captured two championships in the top-level Cup Series, in 2015 and 2019 for Joe Gibbs Racing, and won his final race less than a week before his death, taking the 69th checkered flag of his career in the Truck Series at Dover.
