Kyle Busch's story still had another chapter remaining

One week removed from the shocking, tragic death of NASCAR legend Kyle Busch, it's still difficult to imagine that the NASCAR Cup Series field will race Sunday at Nashville Superspeedway without him. 

Busch was, first and foremost, a devoted husband and father. The Busch family and their wellbeing is, of course, more important than anything related to racing. 

But in regard to the racetrack, Busch's story wasn't over. Far from it. 

The 41-year-old was in the twilight of his career, sure, but it felt like Rowdy had a redemption arc waiting in the midst of a career-worst slump that saw him go 105 races without a NASCAR Cup Series win. 

It's often said that people will remember you for the last thing you did, and much has been made of the fact that Busch's final NASCAR win, a Truck Series win at Dover on May 15, came just six days before his death. What was at the time an ordinary Busch beatdown of the Truck Series field will now forever be remembered in the NASCAR zeitgeist as his last hurrah. 

But an untimely last hurrah, at that. 

Despite the general malaise around the final three years of Busch's Cup Series career, in which he was winless for 105 races and missed the postseason for two straight seasons for the first time ever, there were reasons for optimism in what turned out to be his final few Cup Series races. 

Busch scored his first top 10 of the season at Talladega on April 26. The next day, Andy Street became Busch's new crew chief, and the two-time champion and 63-time Cup winner looked like himself again, running top 10 for much of the day at Texas on May 3 and finishing eighth in his final official Cup Series race at Watkins Glen on May 10. 

Busch was still far from the dominant version of himself that won a slew of races and two titles at Joe Gibbs Racing and three races in the first half of 2023 with Richard Childress Racing. But he was at least solidly competitive again. All of a sudden, it didn't seem like another victory was all that far away. 

What could've been for Kyle Busch

And oh, what a 64th Cup win it would've been for Busch, who after many years of playing the heel, had finally gotten into the good graces of NASCAR's passionate fan base. Maybe it was the fact that he drove a Chevrolet instead of a Toyota; maybe it was because he had stopped winning. Either way, his next triumph was going to be a scene for the ages. 

We won't ever get to see how it would've played out. 

In the grand scheme of life and the tremendous loss suffered by his family and friends, the impact of Busch's death of his career is secondary. But for his fans, the NASCAR fan base at large and the sports world, it's easy to wonder what could have been had Busch lived and raced on for years to come. 

Would he have won another Cup race and had a storybook celebration to go along with it? Would he have competed for a Truck Series title and won it, becoming the first NASCAR driver to ever win a championship in all three of NASCAR's national touring series? Would he have shared the track with his son, Brexton?

No one will ever know, and that's why it all seems so unfair.