CONCORD, N.C. — There was no bustle. None of the frenzied intensity that typically accompanies the signal that the NASCAR garage is open, allowing teams to unload their cars and begin preparations for that day’s on-track activity.

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Instead, just heartbreak and a somber reminder of the tragic loss that had occurred just days before.

At this moment, on this Saturday morning, crew members representing nearly every team focused their attention on one specific team unloading one specific car. With the exception of the lift gate moving up and down, an eerie silence swept over the proceedings.

The whole sequence took a little over two minutes to complete. But most everyone would’ve stood there longer as light rain fell upon their backs. They gathered to pay their respects to Kyle Busch, a two-time NASCAR champion who stunningly lost his life Thursday, and to Richard Childress Racing, Busch’s team that had to carry forward despite the unshakeable grief they were feeling.

Once the car was unloaded — no longer carrying Busch’s No. 8, but renumbered to No.33 — the team pushed it to the inspection bay. As a way to honor Busch and RCR, NASCAR officials decided to break from its procedures where cars go through inspection on the season points standings, instead allowing Busch’s car to go first, followed by the car of RCR teammate Austin Dillon.

A small gesture, but a thoughtful one.

“It shows a lot about the sport and the family it is,” Team Penske driver Ryan Blaney said. “We’re all competitors, but at the end of the day, we do this every single week with each other, so you have ties to people that you’ve worked with through the years. And Kyle was around so much that he worked with a ton of these people in the garage at certain points of his career.”

Once the RCR cars were pushed to inspection, the garage took on its usual, hectic form.

Except there is nothing really normal about anything this weekend. Gone was a seemingly healthy 41-year-old who just last week added another victory to a record he holds as the winningest driver in NASCAR history. On Saturday, his family revealed that he died due to complications from severe pneumonia that progressed into sepsis.

Busch was supposed to race here this weekend, yet now he’s not. This is hard to reconcile.

“It’s really tough,” Trackhouse Racing driver Connor Zilisch said. “It’s so difficult to want to be motivated to go do your job when you lost one of your closest competitors. I woke up (Friday) morning and I was like, ‘Man, I don’t really want to go to the track.’ And at the same time, though, this place is home to me, and I feel like it’s easier to accept it here than it is laying in my bed and just scrolling on social media and just continuing to see posts about it. I feel like it just makes me more and more sad. I still struggle to accept it.”

A familiar sentiment that’s been expressed by many.

Blaney said he saw various remembrances on his drive into the track, making him feel as if he’s in a dream he hasn’t yet woken up from. Since his 2016 rookie year, Busch is someone Blaney has seen at the racetrack 38 times a year. Now he won’t.

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“It’s just odd that it’s going to be different,” Blaney said. “It was tough.”

Along with intermittent rain, gray skies have accompanied the sorrowful mood that has permeated throughout the garage this weekend in Concord. The inclement weather has either delayed or postponed multiple on-track sessions, creating lots of downtime that otherwise may have served as a distraction. The energy that normally accompanies a race has been sapped.

“It just doesn’t feel like a real race weekend,” Zilisch said. “The entire vibe through the garage, it’s eerie here. It’s gloomy. It’s going to be tough come Sunday, for sure. There’s going to be a lot of emotion, and it’s going to be sad.”

Zilisch was at an autograph session Thursday afternoon when he learned Busch had died. He continued with his appearance, suppressing his feelings until later.

“That was really tough for me to get through the rest of that autograph session,” Zilisch said. “Then I finished, and somebody walked up and without even asking, just prayed with me. I got in my car and broke down and cried the whole way home.”

A common descriptor used this weekend is “sad,” a feeling that isn’t going to subside anytime soon. Almost every conversation is marked with that word or some variation. Everywhere you look, there is a reminder of who’s not here.

The track’s videoboard has continually shown Busch’s image, something that’s visible from almost anywhere in the garage. Numerous drivers wore Busch T-shirts and hats during their media availability. And Joe Gibbs Racing, Busch’s team for 15 years before he joined RCR in 2023, has “Rowdy” above the door on its four cars. “Rowdy” is Busch’s nickname, taken from the main antagonist in “Days of Thunder.”

“A lot of people say that a day at the racetrack is better than a day anywhere else, but today it just doesn’t feel normal,” three-time NASCAR champion Joey Logano said. “You just kind of see less smiles and everybody is sad. It’s an emotion that we’re all feeling as raw as it can be, and we’re all trying to handle it in our own way while we’re still going about our business — but there are some pretty heavy emotions on our hearts.”

Even though minds may be elsewhere at times, there was never any serious consideration of postponing Sunday’s race. That’s not how NASCAR has operated historically when a competitor passes, nor is it something Busch would’ve been OK with.

With heavy hearts, NASCAR is pushing forward. They will race on Sunday and again the next week and so forth.

“Kyle Busch would probably be pretty pissed off if we didn’t race,” NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell said. “So we’re going to honor his memory and make sure people know what he was all about.”

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This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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