It took a long time for Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. to become friends.
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"I was super eager for us to get on better terms," Earnhardt wrote on X on May 21. "But it was he who made the effort for that to be possible."
After Busch died on Thursday at the age of 41, Earnhardt narrated a tribute to the late NASCAR legend during Prime Video's broadcast of Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Now Earnhardt has revealed his final conversation with Busch, which took place one day before his death.
What Did Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Talk About?
Earnhardt talked about his exchange with Busch on yesterday's episode of his Dale Jr. Download podcast. Earnhardt was going to bring Busch his seat for the vehicle he would drive in the CARS Tour. They were trying to decide which number they would run in the late-model race.
"He's texting me, and he's like, 'What scheme we going to run?' And I was like, 'You can run any scheme you want,'" said Earnhardt. "I was like, 'What number do you want to run?' He goes ... he said it, literally, 'The Dale Jr. 8.' I was like, 'You got it.'"
Earnhardt Jr. had driven the 8 car from 1999 until 2007. Busch responded to the sign-off with the head-exploding emoji. He knew how fans would respond when they saw him behind the wheel of that car.
Earnhardt Is Still Emotional About Busch's Death
Like the rest of the racing world, Earnhardt said he has a "hard time believing" Busch is gone.
Referring to conversations he's had with other drivers about Busch, he added, "What I've enjoyed, I guess, is learning more about Kyle the person."
"I knew him on a personal level," Earnhardt explained. "But hearing how he interacted and how he was to others, the joke they may have shared in a text... I've really enjoyed learning who he was away from the track and how he interacted and engaged, or treated or talked to other people, and it's been good.
"When he passed away this past weekend, we heard a lot of drivers say, 'He was my hero. I wanted to emulate him. I wanted to be like him,' and I know that that would have meant the world to him."
On Saturday, Busch's family shared that his cause of death was severe pneumonia that progressed into sepsis.
You can watch the full podcast episode below.
