The tragic passing away of Kyle Busch has made the drivers realize the importance of good health and physical well-being. Add to this the inability for drivers to take breaks during a NASCAR season, and the issue seems pretty serious.

Kyle Busch reportedly passed away due to severe pneumonia that escalated into sepsis, devastating many drivers and fans alike. Now Chase Briscoe has revealed how this is a major “wake-up call” for many drivers.

Speaking emotionally, Briscoe added how his wife’s vigilance for everyone in the paddock seems to be growing since the passing of Busch.

“My wife’s been really hard on me about just the last day or two,” Briscoe admitted. “She’s like, ‘Call Noah right now, call Christopher, like call these people and just check on them.’”

The most chilling revelation came when Briscoe confessed, “I had pneumonia, and I didn’t go to the doctor for a long time, which is certainly a reminder for all of us that if you’re not feeling good, you probably need to go get checked out.”

Briscoe then went on to add how the drivers’ relationship with Busch had evolved to be one extending even beyond competition. “These last two days, we’ve all told these amazing stories of Kyle,” he said.

“Some guys have had that rivalry with him and they’ve probably held a lot of that stuff in. But we need to tell each other probably more often just how nice all of us are. At the end of the day, we’re all humans.”

This culture of not getting checked despite illness is not something that NASCAR’s tight schedule has helped, as many have been affected by it.

Let’s take a look through the pages of history at how devastating the impact has been for the sport.

Tim Richmond’s illness still remains NASCAR’s most painful health story

Long before Kyle Busch’s tragedy, NASCAR witnessed another devastating health story with Tim Richmond. In the 1980s, the star began to miss races with reports attributing this to “double pneumonia” as late as 1987.

He was later diagnosed with AIDS during one of the most controversial periods in American sports history.

Despite the deterioration of his health, Richmond still raced, eventually winning at Pocono. But his condition got so severe that he had to withdraw from public life entirely.

Another grim reminder stands in the form of Tim Flock, the two-time champion who passed away from liver and throat cancer in 1998. Reports stated that he did not have the financial means to properly see a doctor, which in turn worsened his illness.

Thus, Briscoe’s revelations regarding the burdens of motorsport racing are far from unfounded. It is now high time that the sport recognizes these struggles and immediately works to mitigate the effects before it is too late.

You can read more on the Daytona Racing Digest

Written by

Uday Jakhar

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason