Danica Patrick Sounds Off On Unexpected Death Of Kyle Busch

Countless current and former NASCAR drivers have offered their condolences to Kyle Busch's family this week, including Danica Patrick.

The NASCAR community lost Busch this Thursday at the age of 41. He died from severe pneumonia that progressed into sepsis. The news of his death came as a huge shock considering he won a Truck Series race just a week ago.

While on OutKick's "Don't @ Me with Dan Dakich" this Friday, Patrick offered her thoughts on Busch.

"I think that we're all just shocked. We're sad. You know, it's just something that no one expected. When I first heard something was wrong, I thought he was driving something, but it was something completely different," Patrick said, via the New York Post. "Love him or hate him, Kyle Busch was a figure, he was a polarizing figure and he was an incredible driver that will go down as being one of the greatest NASCAR drivers ever. That's a loss in another way, too."

Patrick praised Busch's mentality on the track, which was clearly unshakable considering he won 63 Cup Series races.

"I get asked, like, ‘What does it take to be a great driver?' And many times I've referred to this scenario and Kyle Busch has always been in my mind as the driver that does this the best. But when a driver is out there on track, this is almost like an altered state of focus," Patrick continued. "The drivers that could access that next level of like, go mode were able to be the best drivers. In my mind I was thinking about him, but he was able to get to that next level so often. He was just incredibly fast and incredibly passionate and always wanted to be the best."

Honoring the legacy of Kyle Busch.

With the Coca-Cola 600 set to take place this weekend, NASCAR star Chase Elliott suggested that Busch should win the Most Popular Driver Award this year. He believes it'd be a classy way of honoring the iconic driver.

"I would be in extreme favor of Kyle winning the vote. I think that he's a guy that certainly poured a lot of his life into this sport. Although he might've been getting boos a lot of weeks, he also had a lot of fans, and a lot of really passionate fans," Elliott said. "I really haven't processed all of that, I guess, to get to that point. But I would certainly be in favor of him winning and whatever it took. Yeah, I think it would be really deserving for him to have that honor."

Brad Keselowski, meanwhile, said Busch should be immediately inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. That's a strong statement coming from someone who had an intense rivalry with Busch on the track.

Busch gave so much to the sport over the past two decades. We have no doubt NASCAR will honor him this Sunday.

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This story was originally published May 23, 2026 at 4:27 PM.