Brad Keselowski spent much of his NASCAR career measuring himself against Kyle Busch, not as a friend, but as the rival whose presence could make an ordinary finish feel either better or worse. Now, after Busch’s sudden death, Keselowski is left with a final memory that feels painfully unlike the driver he knew.
Busch died at 41 after severe pneumonia progressed into sepsis, according to his family. In the days before his death, Keselowski said he shared a flight to Dover with the two-time Cup Series champion and immediately noticed something was off.
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“I was flying to Dover last week with Kyle,” Keselowski told People. “It was probably more by chance than anything else.”
Busch, he said, was not acting like the outgoing, sharp-edged competitor who had helped define one of NASCAR’s most intense modern rivalries.
“Kyle is normally a fairly gregarious person, very outgoing, and he wasn’t,” Keselowski said. “He sat down one row behind me and next to me and fell asleep right away and I could tell he wasn’t feeling well.”
At the time, Keselowski didn’t read too much into it.
“I didn’t really think that much of it, to be honest,” Keselowski added. “And that was pretty much the last time I saw him.”
Keselowski says the rivalry mattered more than friendship. Busch and Keselowski were never especially close. Their relationship was built through years of racing each other hard, arguing, clashing and refusing to give an inch.
Keselowski said that competitive dynamic gave Busch a unique place in his career.
“For whatever reason, Kyle and I had built into a relationship where although there’s 30-some other drivers on the racetrack, I valued meeting him more than anyone else,” Keselowski said.
He explained that Busch’s finishing position could change how he felt about his own day.
“Fifth place day and race is generally a good day,” Keselowski said. “It’s not a great day, but it’s a good day. With a fifth-place day where Kyle Busch finished fourth didn’t feel like a good day.
“And conversely, a 10th place day where I beat Kyle Busch felt like a better day. That’s what a rivalry is at its core.”
A truce that will never happen
What now hurts Keselowski most is the future he had imagined.
“I guess I had visions before his death of… actually, I thought about this multiple times,” Keselowski said.
“What’s it going to be like when we’re both in the Hall of Fame and we’re doing some kind of ceremony together, whatever that might be? Will the hatchet be buried? I think so.”
He added: “And will we actually be able to share a laugh about it? I guess in my mind, I hope so and now obviously not.”
For Keselowski, that lost chance at closure is difficult to accept.
“The hard part is the closure was supposed to be when we were retired and when we were done racing together,” Keselowski said.
“And I don’t think that’s just for me, by the way. I think that’s for a lot of people. And to not get that is tough.”
Still, Keselowski was careful not to center himself in the loss.
“The loss of Kyle Busch is much greater than how it affects me,” he said, “and so I don’t wish to belittle that.”
Their rivalry wasn’t warm, but it was real. And for Keselowski, the silence of that final flight now feels far louder than any confrontation they ever had.