Truex’s $300 bet with Kyle Busch that sums up late | Sports News

Martin Truex Jr. fondly recalled a playful wager he made with Kyle Busch that stays one of his “favorite memories” of the late NASCAR icon.

The racing world was left surprised and grief-stricken on May 21 when Busch’s household introduced that the Richard Childress Racing driver had handed away on the age of 41. It was later confirmed that his death was the consequence of pneumonia that had developed into sepsis.

As the trio sat within the back of a sprinter van whereas caught in heavy site visitors, Busch bet his fellow drivers $300 that he might beat the vehicle to the lodge on foot. “We are in New York City, we are roughly five miles from the hotel. [Busch] says he can run to the hotel quicker than we’re gonna get there by car,” Hamlin mentioned on the time in an Instagram Live.

“He’s gonna get money no matter what for trying, but he gets a big bonus if he beats us there.”

Busch didn’t precisely exude confidence forward of the self-imposed problem, admitting: “I don’t know if I feel confident in the outcome.” But the two-time Cup Series champion nonetheless jogged by way of the streets of Manhattan, ultimately making it to the Conrad lodge quarter-hour forward of Hamlin and Truex.

Later that 12 months, Truex held up his finish of the bet by repaying Busch in Nashville. Rather than give him three crisp $100 payments, nevertheless, the 45-year-old opted to pay him in pennies. “He’s gonna be happy he’s getting his money,” Truex mentioned. “I’m just not sure if he’s gonna be able to carry it home with him. We’ll see how this pays out.”

Busch promised to get payback for Truex’s hilarious prank whereas chatting with reporters on the 2019 NASCAR Awards, quipping: “He might get wrecked.”

Looking back on the New York bet and subsequent wager, Truex revealed on Prime Video that the incident nonetheless holds a particular place in his coronary heart. “It was one of my favorite memories from Kyle Busch away from the racetrack,” he mentioned. “You know, we had a lot of great memories, obviously, on the racetrack in battles.

“Obviously, we raced in 2005 against each other for a championship. But Kyle off the racetrack, whom I got to know over the years, was just a lot of fun, and you just saw him right there.

“It was classic Kyle. He just wanted to pull one over on everybody and come out going, ‘Hahaha, I won the deal. I outsmarted you guys, so.’ Obviously thinking about his family and miss Kyle. He was one of a kind, a special guy, and a great friend.”