NASCAR honors Kyle Busch at first Cup Series event since his death

Spotting a Kyle Busch fan at Daytona International Speedway takes no time at all. Drive through the tunnel and step into the infield to find a "Rowdy Forever" banner staring back at you right away. It is by no means the only one standing there, either. They are everywhere this weekend, which naturally makes sense given the timing.

This marks the very first NASCAR Cup Series event held at Daytona since Busch passed away so suddenly in May. The Coke Zero Sugar 400 is scheduled to finish the regular season later tonight, placing us just over three months after the sport lost its modern-day equivalent of Dale Earnhardt. For better or worse, those two names remain forever linked.

The death of Kyle Busch in May represented the first major NASCAR fatality for an active driver since Earnhardt died on the final turn during the 2001 Daytona 500. For decades, Daytona gave Dale a lot of trouble; he could win almost every race except this specific one. Busch managed only a single victory at Daytona over his twenty years in a Cup car and never secured a Daytona 500 title, that crown jewel he always sought but missed.

He tried hard enough, getting close on several occasions. Earlier this year, he took the pole for the Daytona 500, led nineteen laps, but faded late in the event. No, Kyle did not love Daytona quite like Dale Earnhardt did, yet he appreciated it and respected the track deeply. During February's 500, he led lap three of a race dedicated to Dale Earnhardt on its twenty-fifth anniversary since his death. "Led lap 3 for Dale plus a few more today," Busch wrote in a post days after the event. "Made it to the end, just not in the right spot."

Now the series returns for the first time following his passing, and for the first time without an Earnhardt or a Busch on track since 1978. Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt, and Daytona share this heavy history. Yes, that is correct: Saturday night's race will be the first Cup event at Daytona without either of them in the field in forty-eight years. On February 19, 1978, Bobby Allison won that Daytona 500. Earnhardt would not make his first Daytona start until months later in the Firecracker 400.

That is incredible to think about, forty-eight years and nearly five decades. So yes, this sport carries both Earnhardt and Busch in its very blood. Dale died during the 2001 Daytona 500, which happened to be Kurt Busch's first race. Kyle entered the series five years later as a rookie driving for Hendrick Motorsports. He went on to win sixty-three Cup races over the next twenty years, including two championships, and amassed 234 wins across all three NASCAR national series.

Busch claimed one Coca-Cola 600 victory, two Southern 500s, and three Indianapolis 500 titles. He won only one official race at Daytona but did secure a couple of duels and the Busch Clash on the road course back in 2021. Yet Kyle never scored that elusive 500 win. "Yeah, it's a box we got to check," he said earlier this year. "Here we are. This is an opportunity to be able to do that. I've come down here a lot of years."

Daytona was never great for Kyle, nor was it his favorite place to race. He did not have the best luck there. But returning this weekend makes it clear the track misses him. And like Dale, you can still see him everywhere you look around this venue.