Concord, North Carolina —
It’s a solemn day as tens of thousands of NASCAR fans are trekking to Charlotte Motor Speedway to remember Kyle Busch at the first race after since his sudden death.
The Coca-Cola 600 outside of the Queen City has been circled on race fans’ calendars for months as one of the premier races on the NASCAR schedule. However, it has turned into a sort of group memorial for 95,000 fans and hundreds of NASCAR drivers, crew members, and other officials as they mourn the passing of a legend taken far too soon.
“The only way you can honor his memory is to race. You don’t stop living in someone’s absence you continue on, you be strong,” said Jason Sherrill, a fan wearing a Busch shirt outside of the track. “Kyle has dealt with loss … and Kyle said, ‘If it ever happens to me, let’s race, line up and do what I love to do,’ and that’s the best way we can go about it is to race in honor and memory of him today.”
The skies above Charlotte Motor Speedway are finally showing some blue after days of rain that followed the announcement of Busch’s death, just days after his final victory at Dover last weekend in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
