For years, Samantha Busch and Kyle Busch turned one of the most difficult chapters of their marriage into a mission to help other families.
On Monday night, Samantha stood up to be honored for that work.
For the first time, she had to do it without Kyle.
Nearly three months after the NASCAR champion’s death, Samantha delivered her first public speech since losing her husband while accepting the Seeds of Hope Award at the Carlos Rodón Foundation’s Third Annual Willow Gala on Aug. 24.
The moment was inevitably emotional. The award recognized a cause Samantha and Kyle had built together, one born from their own deeply personal experience with infertility. Now, continuing that work also means confronting the reality that the person who helped build it is no longer beside her.
GettyBROOKLYN, NEW YORK – AUGUST 24: Samantha Busch speaks at the Carlos Rodón Foundation 2026 Willow Gala at the Refinery on August 24, 2026 in Brooklyn, New York.
“Losing him has been the greatest heartbreak of my life,” Samantha said.
Then she spoke candidly about trying to make sense of everything that has happened since.
“And if I’m being truthful, there are still so many things I don’t understand and so many times I wish God’s plan looked different than it does.”
Kyle died May 21 at age 41 after severe pneumonia progressed into sepsis. In the months since, Samantha has shared pieces of her grief publicly while navigating life with the couple’s two children, Brexton and Lennox.
Monday represented something different.
This time, Samantha was standing before a room of people and speaking about the future of something that had always belonged to both of them.
Samantha Busch: ‘He Should Still Be Here Doing It Beside Me’
Samantha and Kyle’s fertility journey had long been one of the most personal parts of their story away from NASCAR.
After experiencing infertility themselves, they created the Bundle of Joy Fund to help couples facing the enormous financial burden that can accompany IVF and other fertility treatments.
The mission grew alongside their family. Now it has taken on another meaning entirely.
“Caring for the things that Kyle and I built together can feel incredibly heavy because he should still be here doing it beside me,” Samantha said. “But I also know that the same God who carried us through infertility is still carrying me now.”
It is difficult to separate that sentence from everything the Busches built over the years.
Their infertility journey was not something Kyle merely watched from the sidelines. It became part of their shared purpose, and the couple used their platform and resources to help other people reach the moment they once desperately wanted for themselves: becoming parents.
Samantha said the foundation now “gives me a piece of Kyle to hold onto as I keep moving forward.”
And there are living reminders of that impact.
“Every grant we give, every positive pregnancy test, every heartbeat, every baby placed into the arms of parents who wondered if that moment would ever come, Kyle is still a part of that,” she said.
More than 113 babies have been born as a result of the mission, according to Samantha.
That number helps explain why Monday night was about more than grief. It was also about what Kyle left behind.
Samantha Busch Wants Fans to Remember More Than Kyle’s NASCAR Career
There will never be much question about how Kyle Busch will be remembered inside NASCAR.
His career made him one of the defining drivers of his generation, with a legacy on the racetrack that will endure for decades.
Samantha wants the rest of his story remembered, too.
She said Kyle’s “legacy will always live on through” Brexton and Lennox, through racing and through everything he accomplished during his career.
Then she explained what else she hopes becomes part of that legacy.
“But I hope this is part of how people remember him, too,” Samantha said. “Not just for the champion he was, but for his heart, his generosity, and for the more than 113 babies born because of this mission he cared so deeply about.”
It is a different measure of Kyle Busch’s impact.
Wins can be counted. Championships can be listed. Records can be preserved in NASCAR’s history books.
The families changed by the work he and Samantha started together tell another part of the story.
Samantha also thanked Ashley and Carlos Rodón for honoring Kyle and supporting the foundation, which has raised more than $1 million to help expand access to IVF and fertility treatments.
“Thank you so much for honoring Kyle tonight,” she said. “I pray that in his honor we can give more couples a chance to experience the greatest gift Kyle and I were ever given: The chance to become mom and dad.”
Three months ago, Samantha lost the person with whom she built a family, a foundation and a life.
Monday night, she acknowledged just how heavy carrying those pieces forward can be. But she also made something else clear.
Every family helped by the mission they created together gives Kyle Busch’s story another place to live on.
‘He Should Still Be Here’: Samantha Busch Opens Up in First Public Speech Since Kyle’s Death