Tuesday's episode of Dale Earnhardt Jr's podcast was an emotional one as he reflected on his relationship with the late-great Kyle Busch, who passed away last week. Among the things he spoke about was his final text with the two-time champion mere days before he left us.
On Tuesday's episode of The Dale Jr. Download, Earnhardt revealed that the two had a conversation one day before he passed away about getting together to work on Busch's favorite late model car for the upcoming CARS Tour.
"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," Dale Jr. said. "We had agreed that he was going to race our car in the CARS Tour."
Earnhardt said the two of them started discussing schemes and numbers, ultimately agreeing that Busch would drive "The Dale Jr. 8."
"He's texting me, and he's like, ‘What scheme we going to run?' And I was like, ‘You can run any scheme you want.' I was like, ‘What number do you want to run?'" Earnhardt Jr. continued. "He goes … he said it, literally, ‘The Dale Jr. 8.' I was like, ‘You got it.'"
Dale Jr. and Rowdy
Earnhardt had a hard time talking about Busch on the show due to how emotional it made him. He lamented not getting a chance to learn more about Busch as a person before his passing.
"What I've enjoyed, I guess, is learning more about Kyle the person," Earnhardt Jr. added. "We know who he is on the race track, we know how he is on the race track and in the media, and so forth. What he was like at the track with the suit on and in that environment. I knew him on a personal level.
"But hearing how he interacted and how he was to others, the joke they may have shared in a text… I've really enjoyed learning who he was away from the track and how he interacted and engaged, or treated, or talked to other people, and it's been good."
© Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images.
When Busch first passed away last week, Earnhardt said that he was at least happy to have worked out the differences that they had for many years well-before then.
"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 shared on X. "I was super eager for us to get on better terms. But it was he who made the effort for that to be possible."
Busch passed away due to sepsis brought on by severe pneumonia. He was 41 years old.
