Former Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin talks about his friend and longtime competitor Kyle Busch, who died Thursday.
, one of the all-time greatest NASCAR drivers, his longtime competitors, former teammate and friends detailed what made him so incredible both on and off the track.
Denny Hamlin, who competed alongside Busch for Joe Gibbs Racing for 14 years, told "Good Morning America" on Friday that "pushing all of us to be way, way better is my main takeaway from being teammates with him.
" "Every race that he was in was more exciting to watch than the ones that he wasn't," Hamlin said. "Simply put, he just kept our fans entertained. He kept our media members on their toes at all times, and just as a competitor, I can tell you, there's no way that I would have the wins that I've had I not had Kyle Busch as a teammate to push me to be better.
" Tributes have poured in for Busch, the two-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion from Las Vegas who died at 41 on Thursday, his family"On behalf of the Busch family, everyone at Richard Childress Racing and all of NASCAR, we are devastated to announce the sudden and tragic passing of Kyle Busch," the statement from his family, his racing team and NASCAR said. "He was fierce, he was passionate, he was immensely skilled and he cared deeply about the sport and fans.
". Today we mourn. Forever we remember. Rest in peace Kyle," Hamlin wrote in an Instagram post immediately following the news of Busch's death.
Hamlin told "GMA" that part of what made Busch such an incredible driver was how he "found speed in ways that you just couldn't imagine.
" "His race craft was better than the rest," Hamlin said. "I drove the same race cars as him. I couldn't go as fast as him ... I remember when he came to Joe Gibbs Racing -- in kind of the mid-2000s -- he just changed how you got speed out of a race car.
" Hamlin continued, "He knew how to put his car in positions to make passes that just seemed physically impossible. ""The guy wasn't always the most mature when I was teammates with him. He was only a few years younger, but, man, it just seemed like he was so brash and he wasn't for everyone," Hamlin said of Busch's "off-track personality.
" "What was for everyone was his talent behind the wheel, and that's why everyone wanted him," he said. Hamlin recalled a turning point in Busch's personality after he met his wife Samantha and started a family.
"He just changed, just like all of us do that have kids, one day, and so it definitely changed those peaks and valleys of his emotions -- you had a more steady Kyle Busch, and really the best Kyle Busch," Hamlin said. According to Hamlin, over the better part of the last decade since the birth of his two children, son Brexton and daughter Lennix, "you saw the evolution of him and he became a man, and he became a great teammate.
" Busch drove the No. 8 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series, the same organization that endured the death of another racing legend, Dale Earnhardt, in 2001. Brad Keselowski, another top driver in the sport who regularly went head to head with Busch, told "GMA" that "Kyle had a work ethic and a talent that I would tell you is unmatched.
" With 234 wins across NASCAR's three national series -- Cup, O'Reilly Auto Parts and Truck Series races -- Busch holds the highest combined victory total than any driver, according to "That's a record I don't think it's ever gonna be touched," Keselowski said. "Over 25 seasons, the guy was still relevant. He won a race just this last Friday and was supposed to race this weekend and today.
So to say the NASCAR community is stunned would be a complete understatement.
" Keselowski, who had a longtime rivalry with Busch, said, "Kyle and I were not friends, we were rivals, but the NASCAR racing community is still a brotherhood, we race 38 weekends a year and there's a lot of people hurting," adding that his death was "very unexpected. " "The race is going to go on this weekend but the sport is never going to be the same without Kyle," Keselowski said.
"Kyle worked really hard on his NASCAR career to be the best he could be and he did just that. He's a first ballot NASCAR Hall of Famer," he added.
"And his records are what he lived by, he loved winning races and he loved being able to say he was the best and that's how he'll want to be remembered in my mind. "NASCAR champion Kyle Busch dies at the age of 41: 'Sudden and tragic'
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