Dale Earnhardt Jr. Revealed the Last Thing Kyle Busch Ever Said to Him

Kyle Busch was maybe the most polarizing driver in NASCAR history.

Now he's gone – and the text he sent Dale Junior the day before he died tells you everything about who he really was.

Earnhardt just shared what Busch wrote to him, and it will stop you cold.

Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Had One of NASCAR's Ugliest Rivalries

For over a decade, Earnhardt and Busch were NASCAR's version of oil and water.

Busch left Hendrick Motorsports in 2007, opening the door for Earnhardt Jr. to take his seat.

The timing poisoned the well before either man said a word.

What followed were years of on-track battles, fanbase wars, and the kind of mutual friction that defines an era of a sport.

Earnhardt Jr. didn't sugarcoat it on the Dale Jr. Download podcast this week.

"Kyle and I had a really challenging existence for many years," he said.

Here's what nobody expected – Busch was the one who ended it.

He walked onto Earnhardt's bus one day and started a conversation about how they each ran their racing teams.

That one conversation cracked the door open.

"It was he who made the effort for that to be possible," Earnhardt Jr. said.

What Kyle Busch Texted the Day Before He Died

Last Wednesday, Busch collapsed in a GM simulator facility in Concord, North Carolina.

Sepsis – the body's catastrophic overreaction to infection – had been building for days while he went about his life.

He won a Truck Series race at Dover the week before.

He finished 17th in the All-Star race on Sunday.

Nobody knew.

On Tuesday – the day before the 911 call, the day before everything fell apart – Busch was texting Earnhardt Jr. about racing late models.

The two had agreed that Busch would race one of JR Motorsports' cars in the CARS Tour, the short-track series Earnhardt helps run.

"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," Earnhardt said on the podcast.

They were picking paint schemes.

Earnhardt told him he could run any number he wanted.

Busch didn't hesitate.

He wanted the Dale Jr. 8.

"He goes, 'I wanna run the Dale Jr. 8,'" Earnhardt recalled. "And I was like, 'You got it. That's what's on it right now. We'll run the Dale Jr. 8.'"

Then Busch sent his last message.

A head-exploding emoji.

And two words: "Race fans."

Why Kyle Busch Wanted the No. 8 Tells You Everything About Who He Was

That emoji and those two words say more about Kyle Busch than any press release or trophy count ever could.

Here was one of the most polarizing figures in NASCAR – a man who spent 20 years getting booed at tracks he was winning at – choosing to honor his old rival by putting his name on the car.

Not his own.

Earnhardt's.

Richard Childress Racing retired the No. 8 for the rest of the 2026 season the day after Busch died.

Earnhardt Jr. said on the podcast that what's hit him hardest isn't the finality of the loss.

It's realizing he was just beginning to know who Kyle Busch actually was.

"What I've enjoyed, I guess, is learning more about Kyle the person," he said. "We know who he is on the race track. What he was like at the track with the suit on and in that environment."

Two men who spent years as enemies spent the final chapter getting it right – and ran out of time before the story was finished.

Busch is survived by his wife Samantha and their two children, Brexton, 11, and Lennix, 4.

He was 41 years old.

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Sources:

• Dylan Gwinn, "Dale Earnhardt Jr. Shares Kyle Busch's Final Text One Day Before Driver's Sudden Death," Breitbart, May 28, 2026.
• "Kyle Busch's Cause of Death Was Pneumonia and Sepsis. A Doctor Explains How That Happens," Today, May 28, 2026.
• "NASCAR Champion Kyle Busch's Cause of Death Revealed by Family," Fox News, May 23, 2026.
• "Dale Earnhardt Jr. Details Final Conversation With Kyle Busch Before NASCAR Driver's Death," E! Online, May 27, 2026.
• "Dale Earnhardt Jr. Opens Up on 'Challenging' Kyle Busch Relationship in Touching Tribute," The Mirror US, May 21, 2026.