Kyle Busch Paints Terrifying Picture of What Happened During Mall of America Shooting: ‘There’s Chaos’
Kyle Busch will remember 2022 for a long time for a variety of different reasons. On the track, he’s had a couple of races slip away, like Las Vegas and Gateway, while he earned his lone win unexpectedly when Chase Briscoe dumped Tyler Reddick on the final turn of the Bristol dirt.
Off the track, his contract talks with Joe Gibbs Racing have been a hot news item, and he and his wife Samantha welcomed their first daughter to the family. This past week, Busch and his family made a terrifying memory they would soon like to forget when they were inside the Mall of America in Minnesota when shots rang out.
Kyle Busch details what happened inside Mall of America
On Thursday, Kyle Busch and his family were at the massive Mall of America in Minnesota, which features multiple amusement parks with rides. The two-time Cup series champion and his seven-year-old son Brexton were together while his wife Samantha and new daughter Lennix were in another part of the large complex.
“Brexton and I were actually in line for a ride. We were next to go on that ride and she called me,” Busch recalled. “And I answered, and we skipped right through going on the ride and went straight back out the exit, and then we just stayed on the phone together.
“She told me, ‘There’s an active shooter. Shots have been fired in the mall.’ At that point, active shooter or somebody shooting at another person, whatever, shots being fired. You don’t know. So that’s the scariest part. You have no idea what is happening. So I’m asking her, ‘Where are you? What store is it coming from? What level are you on?’
“All those sorts of things to figure out. Am I walking my way right into it? Or am I walking my way out of it? There’s chaos. There’s people running this way. There’s people running that way. And you’re worried when there’s people running at you, OK, are they running away from something? So am I going right into the line of fire? You just have no idea. So your head’s on a swivel. Your eyes are wide open.”
Busch in midst of challenging season
Kyle Busch is the only active multi-champion Cup Series driver with 60 wins to his credit. However, the frequency of those victories has significantly declined in the last few seasons, tallying one each year since 2020.
This season, Busch has been in contention on several occasions and has come up short. He backed into his win on the Bristol dirt. Interestingly, it’s not his racing performance that the media and most fans have been talking about this year, but his future.
Since April, his future with Joe Gibbs Racing has been a big question mark. Toyota and team officials have insisted they were working hard to close a deal and felt confident it would happen. It hasn’t.
In recent weeks, Busch has acknowledged he’s willing to take concessions, understanding that the market isn’t what it once was and it’s challenging to find a replacement sponsor for M&M’s, which spent millions of dollars each year.
While the 37-year-old has had his moments expressing frustration when talking about his racing future, this past week in Minnesota helped put things in perspective.
“You try to live life smart and the best you know how and have fun while doing it without having that dread weighing upon you,” he said.
He’s got the right attitude, especially after all that he’s been through in 2022.
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