Dale Jr reveals sad final message from Kyle Busch, NASCAR gets win and driver teases revenge

Wow. What a race. What an end to Nashville!

Sure, it was midnight and we were all stuffed and kicked out, but still…it’s Nashville. The best things usually don’t happen there until after midnight.

Sounds like NASCAR needs a little more time that on Sunday night. Four restarts left. Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe hit and hit until the checkers. Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the booth discussing everything. Kyle Busch finally bows out from Hamlin, who is now one of the last remaining members of the “old guard” in the garage.

After 10 tough days, NASCAR needed it overcome. They found it in Nashville. We’ll get into it, obviously.

What else? Unfortunately we’re going to stay on Kyle Busch’s beat today, because we’ve got some new updates since we last talked.

We’ll also get to Dale Jr.’s last interview. and Busch and how it would be mind-blowing throughout the game, and did Austin Dillon intentionally crash Brad Keselowski in Nashville?

The video isn’t good, but I’m not sure. You will see. We will figure it out together.

Four tires, enough gas to get us to Michigan, and maybe a cold beer for Brad and Austin on the way out of town … Monday Morning Pit-Stop — the “NASCAR finally wins” show — live!

Denny Hamlin gave NASCAR a much needed break

As I said earlier, NASCAR is necessary something good going last night. Anything else. Just a break.

The death of Kyle Busch has been hanging over – and will continue to hang over – the sport for over a week now. It was dark cloud after dark cloud after dark cloud.

And, at the same time, there were literally dark clouds everywhere he went! Last weekend’s Coke 600 was a wash from start to finish. They squeeze in enough miles to make the race official. It was brutal.

NASCAR SENDS DANGEROUS MESSAGE WITH LATEST PUNISHMENT TO FANS: SHUT UP AND DRIVE.

This weekend’s trip to Nashville didn’t look good either. Friday and Saturday were perfect slogans. The rain. The rain. And, of course, more rain.

That’s what usually happens in these May/June/July/August races, you know. It rains during these months in the beautiful US of A. It has been around for as long as I can remember.

Just one deal of them, as DW would say.

KYLE BUSCH WROTE A NASCAR WORKER TWO DAYS BEFORE HE DIED WITH A DIRECT REQUEST, AND IT WAS PERFECT.

So THIS ended last night (or was it early today?) much needed in a series of hit and miss races still trying to get out of this awful hole:

Kyle Busch’s death certificate has been released

Denny, of those who were not stranded due to the green flag, was the champion last night by about 10 seconds before he jumped at the start of the race and was sent back by NASCAR.

How did the polesitter … skip the start? Don’t they control the beginning? That’s new.

Still, he spent the first half of the race at the back, eventually working his way back to the front at the halfway mark, and was clearly the one to beat in the end. Not a bad look for Joe Gibbs Racing, either, with all three guys up top fighting for the win in the final round.

Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Progressive Insurance Toyota, bows in honor of the late Kyle Busch after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tenn., on May 31, 2026. (Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

And then Denny gave us a Kyle Busch bow? I’m not sure I want everyone in the garage to do that for the rest of the year because sometimes it will lose its luster. But Denny Hamlin is one of the very few who can pull it off. He is free to do whatever he likes, not that anyone cares what I say.

You shouldn’t either!

About Kyle … again, I don’t want to keep doing this every week, but I have to talk about Rowdy a little bit before we go back to Nashville.

Since we last spoke, his death certificate has become public information, which sounds strange to me. Don’t like that. But, it is there, and it provides some insight into his final hours.

Again, I’m not sure about us the need that understanding, but we have it, so I pass it on:

Kyle, Dale and Austin dumped Brad?

Look, this was a really bad series of events. I know that’s putting it in very simple terms, but that’s what it looks like to me. This was a perfect storm in the worst possible way.

Officials called Busch’s death a “chain of events.” He had been suffering from bacterial pneumonia for “days to weeks” before things took a turn for the worse that Wednesday morning.

It turned into sepsis, and Busch later died.

We knew Kyle had been sick for a while before the week he died. He needed medical attention after a race at Watkins Glen, and was coughing after winning at Dover the week before he died.

Fans got that clip over the weekend, and it’s a tough watch. Everything is a tough watch right now, which is why Denny’s win – and the show he gave us in the end – was so important.

Okay, a few more on the way out. First? Dale Jr., who continues to dominate the Prime broadcast scene, spoke with Kyle Busch a few days before his death and the two had something special for NASCAR fans:

ADDED FAN VIDEO SHOWS WHO REALLY WAS KYLE BUSCH, NASCAR’S DARK HOUR & BUBBA WALLACE’S ‘ROWDY’ STORY

“He’s texting me and saying, ‘What trick are we going to do?’ I said, ‘You can use any scheme you want. We can run 51 or whatever you want him to say.’ He said, ‘Dale Jr. 8.’

“And he gives my head an exploding emoji. Then he says, ‘Race fans.’

Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 M&M’s 75 Toyota, chats with Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 88 National Chevrolet, on the grid during qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., on Feb. 16, 20 Feb. (Jerry Markland/Getty Images)

So, Kyle would run Dale Jr.’s scheme. 8 during the Cars Tour race this summer. Good grace. Imagine telling that to NASCAR fans 15 years ago? Imagine telling Dale Jr.’s fans. 15 years ago?!

The two don’t get along well for a long time after Kyle breaks up with Junior in Richmond. That’s probably putting it mildly.

We left that, to Kyle Busch driving Dale’s no-longer model car. It shows how much respect Kyle has earned in the Cup garage.

Okay, one more quickie on the way out…and it has to do with the actual race last night! I know. It’s surprising.

What do we think, class? Did Austin Dillon intentionally hit Brad Keselowski here?

I don’t believe we heard from Austin Dillon last night, but I’m going to assume he’s going to say he’s NOT purposely LETTING Brad out there.

Brad, naturally, doesn’t see it that way, and teases revenge.

“So, conversion is fair game.”

Love that. We are coming out with a vengeance in this class. We need it like we need oxygen. Go get them, Brad!

Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing driver Brad Keselowski’s car is serviced after a crash in the Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tenn., on May 31, 2026. (Photos by Randy Sartin/Imagn)

PS: I’m in the Junior camp on this one. I don’t think Austin smashed Brad on purpose. If anything, Chris Buescher should have been upset, not Brad. I know the video is not viewable well, but it seems strange to me.

Then again, those two haven’t matched historically, so maybe Austin put him in next week for no apparent reason.

Either way, it’s a win for us!

Let me know: Zach.Dean@OutKick.com.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS PROGRAM

Ok…that’s all I have for today. I’ll see you all in Michigan. Great NASCAR weekend. They needed it.

Let’s try to keep that up this week.