Tyler Reddick may be in the midst of a dream season, but last weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway served as a heartbreaking reminder of life’s fragility as he and the rest of the NASCAR community reeled over the shocking death of Kyle Busch, who died at age 41 on May 21.

“Sunday was a hard day on the soul,” Reddick, 30, tells PEOPLE on Tuesday, May 26, one day before the release of the death certificate confirming that Busch died of severe bilateral pneumonia and sepsis.

“I got to know him as a competitor, and then I got to know him as Kyle — the father and the husband as well. It was just really tough,” Reddick adds.

Family, friends and competitors gathered together before the running of the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday, May 24, to pay tribute to the man taken far too soon.

“There’s so many people in the garage that worked with him for a weekend or worked with him for a couple races or worked with him for a year or even worked with him for decades,” says Reddick, who is the current NASCAR Cup Series points leader heading into the next race at Nashville Superspeedway on May 31.

“Obviously we all knew his talents on the racetrack, but he also impacted obviously a lot of fans’ lives along with a lot of us in the industry. It’s just a huge loss for everyone,” he says.

While holding their one-year-old son Rookie George in her protective arms, Reddick’s wife Alexa DeLeon was the first to be seen embracing Kyle’s wife Samantha on Sunday as she and her extended family walked out in front of the sold-out crowd during a tribute led by NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell.

“I hope his family was able to take away from the weekend that, you know, if there’s ever any doubt in their minds about the support that they had, that they can hopefully move forward knowing that the entire garage is behind them and is there to support them,” Reddick says.

He knows all too well about the fragility of life, as his son Rookie underwent life-saving surgery to remove a chest tumor mere days before Reddick won the Daytona 500 earlier this year.

“I just hope that [Busch’s family] is able to move forward knowing that there’s so many people in our industry that are there for them if they ever need it,” he tells PEOPLE.

Reddick says the vision that will remain in his mind is Busch as a father to son Brexton, 11, and daughter Lennix, 4.

“That weighs on me the most, you know, about just him being gone,” Reddick says. “You know, him and his kids and his wife. That’s just an incredibly tough thing for his family.”

And while Reddick is the first to admit there were days in which Busch seemed like the enemy out on the track and received his share of boos from the fans throughout the years, those boos had been slowly transitioning into cheers over the past few years.

“Those boos were disappearing,” Reddick says. “I never asked him what that meant to him, but you know, the more I got to know Kyle as a person, the more I just knew that a lot of those boos weren’t valid or weren’t reasonable. I get it. You don’t want to see your favorite driver get beat by another. And he won a lot of races and won championships and did a lot of incredible things.”

He adds, “I’m just glad more people the last few years got to be more appreciative of who Kyle is and what he’s done for NASCAR and what he’s done for racing.”