NASCAR MEDIA CONFERENCE

May 22, 2026

Steve O'Donnell

Press Conference

An Interview with:

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everybody. We wanted to provide our thoughts on yesterday's tragic loss of Kyle Busch. Here to do that is NASCAR CEO Steve O'Donnell.

We know there may be specific health-related questions from yesterday. We do not have answers for those. But we did want to start this weekend talking about the legacy of Kyle Busch. So we have Steve here to do that. Steve, can you help us do that, please.

STEVE O'DONNELL: Thanks, Mike. I've spent 31 years in this sport, and Kyle Busch has been part of my life for 25 years. Watching him come into the sport as a teenager, I think all of us would agree, full of talent, full of fire, didn't give a damn, was going to push us. I think we all loved that spirit.

And over those years, I think everything you saw on the track was one thing, but there was so much more to Kyle Busch that I think it's important for people maybe even new to the sport to understand.

Folks will often ask me when I'm around what's NASCAR like? My best description of NASCAR is it's like a family reunion every week. And those of you who have gone to family reunions, you know that from time to time families don't get along, but at the end of the day, everybody knows that they're all part of the family.

If you look at our drivers, but just as equally when you think about family, that includes everybody in this room: media, team owners, drivers, sponsors. We're all part of that group when we think about that family reunion. And when you think about drivers in particular, you get to watch drivers come into the sport -- young, hungry, hopefully you see them win, and you see them grow up and you see them learn.

You also get a chance when you're in some of our positions to watch drivers off the track. You get to see them maybe find a friend, a girlfriend becomes a wife, they become fathers, they have kids, they start families. And you celebrate all that together because each and every weekend we are together, and we're there to celebrate it.

And that's what this sport is, and Kyle Busch lived just about every chapter of what you can do in NASCAR. What most people saw: Rowdy, fierce, he's competitive, always good for a great quote.

My favorite interview Kyle Busch ever gave -- and I wish I could do it every weekend, and I know most of you probably hated it, but everything is great, and he just kept saying it over and over and over again. That's Kyle.

One of my favorite moments as well back in Texas, he would challenge NASCAR on some rules, maybe spun out, maybe hit the wall, decided that we needed to take him to the care center, laid flat out on a pit cart, made fun of us. I was mad at the time, but I look back, and that was damn funny, and that was Kyle.

Always good to egg on the fans. Played that villain and was a winner. And the iconic bow I think we're all going to remember as well.

Anyways, the stats speak for themselves. He's a two-time champion. He's won more national series races than anyone in our history. No doubt, first ballot Hall of Famer for sure.

But what few people saw was what Kyle also did off the track because he didn't talk about it a lot. One of those examples I'd give to all of you is everybody knows -- and I hope he doesn't want me sharing this -- but Daniel Suarez comes over from Mexico learning English, learning how to race at the national series level, struggling. Received a call every week from Kyle Busch -- never talked about it, just how do I make you better? How do I keep things going?

Kyle Busch started a Truck Series team that we all know was hugely successful, and that's wins on the racetrack. But what people new to the sport don't know is, if you go up and down pit road on Sunday, you're going to see a lot of people who came through that. What you're also going to see is people behind the wheel on Sunday who came through that. He gave people a chance.

He started the Bundle of Joy foundation with Samantha because he knew how difficult it was to start a family and wanted to spread that message, and yet had time to be a philanthropist off the track.

I think we all saw last week when he won at Dover, the quote from Victory Lane, it's tough to watch. It's telling. But what I look back on is a text from Kyle Tuesday, as only Kyle could do -- and I keep looking at it -- and he said: Hey, man, what do you think about an over-40 rule to be able to compete in all the Truck Series races next year?

I said, you know, we put that rule in place because you were winning so much, but when we looked about it and had a meeting Wednesday internally, we thought, damn, that's actually good. We need Kyle in the Truck Series.

It was twofold. He knew he could help the series, but I think one day had a dream to race against his son in a national series event. That was Kyle, always thinking about the sport and going forward.

I want to recognize a few folks we're obviously thinking about as an industry. First and foremost, everyone at Richard Childress Racing, Judy and Richard, Mike and Ally Verlander. Mike, I don't know how he's dealing. Working with Kyle through the Truck Series, working at RCR, a great human being, and our thoughts are certainly with them.

But all of the team back at the shop, those who are working on engineering, the crew members who put those cars together each and every week, those guys lost a teammate, and that's not lost on us that we're thinking about all of them.

The sport and all of us grew up and watched Kyle be a racer, but we watched him become a husband and a father the same way we watched him become a champion. We all did that as a family. We were all part of that. Kyle's parents, Kurt, Samantha's parents, all thinking about you for sure.

Samantha, Brexton, and Lennix are not just family of a NASCAR legend, they are part of the NASCAR family, and they always will be because that's what family does.

I talked about the family reunion part, and I think personally about Kyle Busch and NASCAR, and to me Kyle Busch just defines what it means to be a racer in NASCAR. Everything about it -- the fire, the greatness, the heart that sometimes you rarely saw. The sport was truly lucky to have him.

I believe I can speak for everybody in the sport, and I'll just say this: For me personally, the family reunions week to week are just not going to be the same without him, but we're going to do our damn best to continue his legacy and support his family.

With that, I'm happy to take any questions.

Q. You talked a lot about things that you remember about Kyle, but what was the one personal moment or interaction that you had with him that stands out?

STEVE O'DONNELL: I think throughout your career you have highs and lows. You battle it out, and you think, oh, I'm going to win this won or get the one-up, but he was always that same guy who didn't change, and at the end of the day, cared about the sport.

I learned throughout my career that people with passion and people who care about the sport are the ones you need to listen to, and he was always that guy. At the end of the day, he would always have an opinion, but it came from a place of somehow trying to improve the sport, the race car, the interaction at the track.

But I think probably just embracing the fans and what happened at the racetrack. He leaned into it, man. For drivers who are coming up in this system, you've got to connect with race fans. Kyle Busch did that, and that's the essence of who we are.

Q. In your opening remarks, you said that Kyle got to live just about every chapter of his career that he could in NASCAR. Can you expand upon that and what you meant?

STEVE O'DONNELL: I think what I meant is Wednesday a lot of us were in the Hall of Fame voting, and you think about the future, and I think about Kyle's future and the ability for all of us to sit in that room and celebrate him and listen to him speak and talk about that final chapter and see his kids maybe one day race and continue, and it makes me really sad not to see the end of that chapter.

Q. He was a guy, Kyle, that you guys at times had to suspend, had to fine. He frequently bucked the system. He was a rebel, and I know that at times that is not always comfortable for us or for you guys as a sanctioning body. In hindsight, having that story written now, how important is it for the sport to have characters like Rowdy, Kyle Busch Rowdy, to be that kind of personality in NASCAR?

STEVE O'DONNELL: I think about how he launched the season, and I talked about maybe we lost our way a little bit, and one of -- proud of who we are. I think I said -- sorry for kids, but this sport is a badass sport. Kyle Busch to me is an American badass. Behind the wheel, who you want to be. And I think, when you look back at all those things, that's part of being a race car driver. That's part of representing the sport.

We're not always going to agree. If we did, I think people would be really bored. We certainly had our battles, right? But I'd give a lot of money to have a few more battles going forward.

Q. Steve, what are the plans of the tributes maybe we'll see from the drivers, whether individually or coordinated this weekend? And what are things, tribute-wise, that the fans can or may be able to participate in, whether Sunday or throughout the weekend?

STEVE O'DONNELL: First and foremost, our responsibility is to make sure that Kyle's family is okay with what we may or may not want to do and then the folks at RCR. We have had some of those conversations early this morning.

Then as our industry does really well, we got on the phone with all of our Cup drivers, all of the owners, the racetrack, our broadcast partners, and threw out some ideas for them to react to. We got some great ideas from the drivers as well. Some will probably do some individual things, which is fantastic because they all look up to Kyle.

We have a number of items that are in the works that our fans will be able to look at, celebrate Kyle. It won't just be this weekend. He's going to be part of our sport forever. But I think this industry will do what's needed to honor his legacy throughout the weekend.

Q. Understanding what Mike said about the health leading up to this, is there anything at all that you can share in terms of what might have happened and was he sick before this happened? Anything at all that you can share.

STEVE O'DONNELL: We're 24 hours from getting a phone call, and I don't think it's -- out of respect for the family, and they've asked for privacy, I'm not going to address any of that.

Let me just add on to that, however, you guys who know me know that transparency is something we all believe in. So in due time, I think everyone will be comfortable with where things stand.

Q. Steve, generations ago, drivers would come into a race weekend and either lose one of their competitors on the racetrack or perhaps in an off-track accident of some sort, and thankfully this generation of drivers by and large has not had to experience that. How has NASCAR, in speaking with the drivers, made any kind of resources or help available to not only help them cope with this but also allow them to put a race on on Sunday?

STEVE O'DONNELL: So Tom Bryant, who works for us, has headed up this initiative, and the good news for the industry is that this has been in place for a while. We don't ever want to have to use it, but we have the resources in place for any member to be able to reach out, have conversations, set up whatever resources are necessary. So that is in place.

You never want to have to use that, but we have any and all resources available to the industry.

Q. I feel like I already know what the answer to this is, and pardon me for asking this, but was there any consideration to either postponing or not running -- can you just address that very quickly?

STEVE O'DONNELL: I think it's a fair question, but when you look at what minimal conversations did take place between RCR, ourselves, family, it was Kyle Busch would probably be pretty pissed off if we didn't race. So we're going to honor his memory and make sure people know what he was all about.

Q. I totally understand you're not talking about the health today and addressing it. It's such a shock to go from asking for a shot to being gone. I'm wondering will NASCAR take a close look at what happened? Not looking for answers right now, but will you do an investigation into helping drivers make sure they're taking care of themselves? Is there a care center at each track? Will you take a very close look at how that can happen so quickly?

STEVE O'DONNELL: Like I said earlier, now is not the time to talk about that. I think you're very familiar with the sport and know that we always do that and will continue to do that, and we'll do what's right by Kyle's family.

Q. Then for the fans who are hurting right now, and as much as anyone in this room and the industry, what do you say to the fans? NASCAR will go on, it always has, but it is a great loss. What would you like to say straight to the fans who are also grieving and you wish you could reach out to them but they're not in this room today?

STEVE O'DONNELL: I would say to the fans that I'm one of them, and I feel the exact same way that they probably do: Shock, sad, wondering what you can do to help out.

But I think the best thing that I personally can do is talk to you all, talk to people that maybe didn't know him about his legacy, making sure people don't forget, making sure that his kids knew that it wasn't just their mom who thought Kyle was great, it was a lot of people in this world that wish he was still with us, and we're going to make sure they're in a good place.

Q. You mentioned a while ago you're 24 hours away from the phone call. I think it all hit us, obviously, hard, the ones that are in this sport every week for sure. What was your reaction and your personal thoughts? Can you share those with everyone?

STEVE O'DONNELL: I'm not going to get too much into the details, but I got a call about 9:00 a.m. yesterday morning, a call you don't expect that things weren't great. Spent the rest of the day and the afternoon with the people I thought I should be spending it with in the industry and just tried to be there for them.

Q. I know you guys just did the Hall of Fame voting, and you mentioned Kyle's a first ballot Hall of Famer. Any chance -- will there be any conversations or anything about just adding him alongside the three that just got voted in?

STEVE O'DONNELL: I don't know. I know that we put that on the list of ideas that we want to look at. I think -- I said earlier there's things we want to do this weekend, and then we have a little bit more time to think about what we could do as well in the future. Who knows, that could be something we look at.

Q. First, thanks for doing this. I know it's tough, and we appreciate you being here. Speaking of tough, how tough is it -- I mean, we never want this to happen, but on a weekend like this when it's Memorial Day and we're doing remembrances for all the veterans who gave us the freedom to be here and be race car drivers and CEOs and things, how tough does that weigh on this entire process?

STEVE O'DONNELL: It's a good question because this weekend is always one you don't necessarily look forward to for what happened, but you look forward to, me personally, how proud I am of the industry, of the partnership we have with the military, what our industry does to come together to honor those who served, either in the past or who are currently serving.

So making sure that we properly show the respect to Kyle and what he meant -- you know, there's a lot of his values in terms of racing and what he stood for that match in with what we want to honor this weekend as well.

So I'm confident in the track and our team and the industry that they'll come together and do both properly and showcase the sport for what it is. It's one that we believe everyone in America should be proud of.

If they would spend some time thinking about who's in this sport, who our drivers are, what they represent, not necessarily just on the track, but off the track. They're people you want to admire, people you want to be around, and we need to put the focus back on them and showcase this great sport.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you everyone. Big media contingent here today. Thank you for being here. Thank you for honoring Kyle's legacy and providing the coverage to tell his story.

Steve, thank you so much for your remarks and your time. Appreciate everyone. Have a great weekend.