NASCAR racer Brad Keselowski had hoped to bury the hatchet one day with his longtime rival, Kyle Busch, but all he can do is recall their final encounter together. Days before Busch's death, Keselowski saw the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion on a plane in what he described as a 'chance' occurrence.
'I was flying to Dover (Delaware) last week with Kyle,' Keselowski said in an interview with People magazine, noting 'it was probably more by chance than anything else.' Keselowski recalled his rival was acting differently and wasn't his usual 'gregarious' and 'outgoing' self.
'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,' Keselowski said. The racer said he 'didn't really think that much of it, to be honest' at the time, noting it was 'pretty much the last time I saw him.' 'We were in a race and you get in a race and you don't really see each other,' Keselowski said. 'So I saw him on the racetrack.'
Busch suddenly died on May 21 from severe pneumonia and sepsis.
Keselowski had 'visions' before Busch's death
Keselowski told People he is going to miss the rivalry he had with Busch, adding he often hoped to put it behind them in the future. 'I guess I had visions before his death of … actually, I thought about this multiple times: 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 said. 'And will we actually be able to share a laugh about it? I guess in my mind, I hope so and now obviously not.'
Keselowski noted it was hard to get closure around the situation, stating: 'The loss of Kyle Busch is much greater than how it affects me, and so I don't wish to belittle that.'
Busch's wife planned to have baby if he died
A video clip has resurfaced online where Busch's widow, Samantha, said she would have his baby if he died. The clip was from a November 2025 episode of the Certified Oversharer podcast, where Samantha said she told her husband she would have another child to make sure there was a 'connection' with him if he died.
'Here's something I've never told anybody. I'm a certified over-sharer. So a lot of people ask me what we have done with our embryos because we still have some,' Samantha told author and podcast host Ashley George. 'I can't part with them. We are paying to freeze them until … they're going to have to come with me. I don't know what else to do at this point because I love them so much and can't make a decision.'
Samantha said Busch told her they were done having kids, to which she wondered, 'What if?' 'I told him the most morbid story the other day. I was like, 'What if you passed? I would have to have another kid to be connected to you and name that child after you,'' said Samantha, per Daily Mail. 'He was like, 'What is wrong with you?' and I was like, 'These are the things I think about Kyle.' I love being a mom and I have never told anybody that until I told you.'
Both of the couple's children were conceived through in vitro fertilization after Samantha struggled to get pregnant and had several miscarriages, the Daily Mail reported. Busch and his wife founded the Bundle of Joy Fund, a non-profit organization that financially helps couples struggling with infertility and IVF treatment costs. They publicly campaigned to make IVF treatment more accessible for families in the United States.
