Todd Thompson

[Nick 🎱 @nick18racing]

This one hit hard

Miss ya KB.

[Shelfy @RealShelfy]

If the White Sox win the World Series I’ll buy a Munetaka Murakami jersey for 1 random person who retweets this. Love this team.

[Todd Thompson @thetodd162]

@FreddieKraft I’ll keep the reason simple. I’m fat to 😂

[Todd Thompson @thetodd162]

@JRMotorsports @NASCAR26TheGame @iRacing Ps5

[Todd Thompson @thetodd162]

@BarstoolBigCat You need to link up with @CarsonHocevar if you and the @PardonMyTake boys want the real chilis hookup

[Big Cat @BarstoolBigCat]

I need to go

[FOX Sports @FOXSports]

Each branch of the military helped deliver the Freedom 250 pace car to Washington, D.C.

@INDYCAR | @INDYCARonFOX

[RFK Racing @RFKracing]

His time here was short, but his impact will last forever.
#ForeverRowdy #KyleBuschDay

[Dirty Mo Media @DirtyMoMedia]

8.18. Forever Rowdy.

We miss you, Kyle.

[Carson Hocevar @CarsonHocevar]

8/18 🕊️

[RCR @RCRracing]

This weekend, as our sport takes a pause, so will we.

We’ll spend these days doing what so many of you are doing – remembering Kyle. The moments that made us laugh. The victories we celebrated together. The determination, heart and passion he brought to Richard Childress Racing every day.

Kyle will always be part of our family, and his legacy will continue to inspire us both on and off the track.

[Todd Thompson @thetodd162]

@FreddieKraft I also get to only go once a year

[Todd Thompson @thetodd162]

@FreddieKraft I see your point for shorter races, you go every week and do it every day. From the fans point of view at the track I want longer races makes my day/night. I usually plan the day after because hangovers. Let’s be real I’m getting way more tore up at a race than a baseball game

[Todd Thompson @thetodd162]

@jeff_gluck Crazy coincidence 😂

[Todd Thompson @thetodd162]

@MrBeast 25,000,000

[Steven Taranto @STaranto92]

Kyle Busch will go down as arguably the greatest driver to have never won the Daytona 500. I have a special connection to that 2023 race, which was the closest he ever came to winning it.

2023 marked my first time reporting on location from the Daytona 500 as a member of the media. It also came three weeks after the passing of my Grandpa Taranto, who I was very close to. It was an emotional time for me on that front, and I had his prayer card up in the press box with me during the race and as things played out over the closing laps.

I remember being up in my seat those final laps during the race between the RCR and RFK cars, thinking vividly that I was about to be a direct witness to something very special and one of those great moments in Daytona 500 history. It wasn't to be. (and that spin by the 99 didn't need to be a caution either. Come on.)

I guess in retrospect it's of some comfort that Kyle was leading the Daytona 500 at Lap 200, but the record doesn't give him credit for that, nor others who have endured leading Lap 200 of the Daytona 500 but not winning the race. One year later during Media Day, I asked him about how frustrating that was when I put it in those terms.

"Where does that rank on the pain scale?"
"High."
"Gotcha."
"High, yeah. 'Cause I don't have the trophy or the ring, so it just means I coulda, shoulda, woulda if it was prior to 2005. So that sucks, but it is what it is.

"I guess 2005, I knew the rules coming in anyways. That's when I first started in the Daytona 500 was 2005. It happens."

The next year I went with a slightly different angle, asking if Daytona's repave in 2011 and the muting of variables like character in the track, handling, etc. had made the Daytona 500 a more difficult race to win. Kyle proceeded to give a very detailed and thorough answer about what it was like to race the old Daytona and drive through the bumps/beyond the limits of the tire, while also pointing out certain areas of the current Daytona that were becoming trouble spots.

I listened to this back today as well as the followup I asked and I just love the exchange. It feels like I did my job asking Kyle informed questions and he obliged in giving informed answers.