Bitter enemies on the racetrack, Brad Keselowski wonders what Kyle Busch really thought of their rivalry.
After Busch’s shocking death Thursday at the age of 41 that rocked the sports world, Keselowski, who had gone head-to-head with him for over 15 years, sent a heartfelt message.
“I made him earn every victory and stole a few from him along the way,” Keselowski wrote in a social media post. “We took our shots at each other, in the media and on the track.
“But I’d like to think that somewhere deep down there was an appreciation that we pushed each other to perform at the highest level, even if neither of us would’ve admitted it.”
Busch said in 2017 at the Championship 4 Media Day that “Sometimes you just don’t like a guy, fact of the matter” when asked about Keselowski.
But there were many more moments between the two.
Keselowski called Busch “an ass” in 2010 when he was introduced after winning a Nationwide Series race in Bristol that August, during which their cars tangled and Keselowski crashed late to give Busch the win.
Despite all the history and very public barbs, with no love lost between the two, Keselowski pointed out that he doesn’t know what to do now, using a Looney Tunes-style comparison.
“Tonight, I feel a little like the coyote with no more roadrunner to chase,” Keselowski added.
“His loss is all of our loss, but none more so than his family’s. Thinking of Samantha, Brexton, and Lennix, who lost their father today.”
The two competitors had shown some signs of burying the hatchet as their careers began to wind down, with the pair managing just one Cup Series win between them since 2023.
“I would love to rekindle that rivalry because in my eyes that would mean that we’re competing with each other for wins,” Keselowski said last year as the two struggled to win races.
Keselowski isn’t the only one with a difficult rivalry with Busch, one of NASCAR’s greatest drivers.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. posted a similar tribute and message to Busch after his death.
“Kyle and I had a really challenging existence for many years,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “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 teams.”
