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Barstool reels as Kyle Busch tributes flood the timeline

By JR·1 min read
Barstool reels as Kyle Busch tributes flood the timeline

TLDR: The Barstool world went quiet Thursday night as word spread about Kyle Busch. From Davey Pageviews to the racing-adjacent corners of the office, the tributes hit all at once and they all said the same thing: this one came out of nowhere.

Will ComptonKayce Smith

Rowdy was one of the most polarizing, most talented, most-watched drivers of his entire era. Love him or hate him, if you watched NASCAR at any point in the last 20 years, Kyle Busch was a main character. That's why the reaction last night didn't really feel like a normal celebrity-passes news cycle. It felt like the floor dropped out.

Dave Portnoy
Dave Portnoy
@stoolpresidente

What the hell? Awful out of nowhere news. RIP Rowdy

The football guys, the NASCAR-curious guys, the production people — everybody hopped on at once. Bussin' With The Boys co-host Will Compton, who runs in the same Nashville/country-star/racing orbit Busch lived in, posted twice within an hour. The second one is the one that hurts, pointing at a Busch post from just 3 days earlier.

Will Compton
Will Compton
@_willcompton

It breaks my heart seeing this post from 3 days ago

And then there's the clip that's going to live forever now. Barstool's main account pulled audio from a Kyle Busch interview this past Saturday in which he says, plain as day, "because you never know when the last one is." It's the kind of line you scroll past on a normal day. Today it stops you cold.

Barstool Sports
Barstool Sports
@barstoolsports

“Because you never know when the last one is” - Kyle Busch, this past Saturday. So sad. RIP Kyle Busch

Kayce Smith, who's covered NASCAR closer than just about anyone on the Barstool payroll, posted the kind of message you write when a sport you actually love loses one of its giants. No bit, no angle, just the reminder everyone needed to hear.

Kayce Smith
Kayce Smith
@KayceSmith

Life is so fragile. Tell your people you love them and never take any day for granted. RIP Kyle Busch 💔

There will be time for the career retrospective — the Cup championships, the Truck Series dominance, the feuds, the wins at every level of stock car racing in numbers nobody is ever catching. Tonight isn't that. Tonight is a timeline full of people who watched him race for two decades trying to process that he's gone. Rest in peace, Rowdy.

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